The Next day , Hasst takes a dragon in a container while Larna is informed of Lily taking care of the maze corruption at the egg island ' Maybe she wants to receive favor by taking care of a dead infant but the way she's acting I wonder if there is something there that she wants other than that ? '
She looks at the device that Lily gave them ' I remember that group with advanced construct refused to teach us their technology probably because of the value yet she allows us to have it ... perhaps she doesn't see this as a very important asset to have a monopoly on so what if this isn't something she cares about but this will bring trouble to her '
Lily eats some pudding while looking at the sky " Even though it's in another world it is surprisingly more peaceful " down underwater , Tiburon was killing Mazes that came out of the ground .
" I'm still amazed by how the Labyrinth has a will but I'm just wondering why it's just an ocean " she finishes her pudding and Argus brings her an update " We have found special information about the labyrinth after they reached through a certain distance from here "
Lily looks at the map showing an edge " Ice ? " " A big ice labyrinth , they have swam through the surface and found a map when the labyrinth started they even hiked a mountain "
" It's just like the information Hasst gave us but seeing it from a satellite is even more amazing " " Satellite recovery is also going well there must be a limit to how spread out our facilities are . "
" You sure are fast and so are the residents this world might be very big and probably big enough to have all these super soldiers and the like "
' Hopefully for me too ' Lily looks at the border where these labyrinths start " Notice how this thing forms a small arc of a circle ? " " Locating center point " the location of Life was marked " seems pretty close probably could see it from there if those walls aren't put up "
Lily looks at the satellite the hovers over life thinking about what is in there " If whoever banished death to this world succeeded why would life follow " Argus serves her some tea and she drinks it " Maybe I should go to this labyrinth "
" Larna is calling you " " About time " " The sages and those people calling themselves the future want to meet you " " Tell them I'll be there in a way just being the thing you are holding with you " Lily told Larna " why is Hugo not here yet ? "
" He's at the island which I call my food supplier honestly transportation fees are quite expensive but if you have some dragons that can fly for three days straight you can visit him " Larna is annoyed by how calm Lily was .
" Don't be so mad he's being taken care of by my subordinates , but what time do you plan to meet ? " " Now " two representatives from the sages and the futures came inside " You must be the girl who just came to this world "
Lily looked at the representative " I am the sages' representative Jason " " My name is Erix Future's representative " a man said . Both of them looked at Lily one marveled at how she could communicate from afar the other with doubt wondering how the medicine was made from her body .
" First I want to ask you why you gave me this construct ? " Larna asks " To keep in touch it's cheaper to use this than bringing laters back and forth " ' So it's just that ' " But I think the Future is more curious about how it's possible that I was able to communicate despite the distorted magnetic fields right ? "
Erix opens a hologram screen " Yes we want to ask how you were able to do that " " We can talk about that separately how about you tell me how much you are faring over the distorted magnetic field ? "
" Quite horribly most of our devices weren't working when we arrived here " " So you are overly reliant on a stable magnetic field " " We didn't think it was possible " Larna was trying her best to understand their conversation .
" It's possible so I'll send you the solution I'll leave the negotiation to Argus he'll take care of it for me now Jason why do you want to meet with me ? " " We want to see how you could be able to create that elixir "
" It's complicated to say it the main ingredient is a drop of blood from my body and a lot of other things " " How does a drop of blood from you make it the main ingredient are you some sort of mythical beast in the form of a human ? "
' I was worshipped back then ' " No I'm not some mythical beast I'm human except for most of my body " " So why do you get to describe yourself as a human ? " " Can we not go to that philosophical question about what makes me a human ? If you find it that hard just call me a carrier of sorts "
' Carrier ? She called herself death before ' Larna thought while Jason accepted it " Then can we obtain a sample of your blood to study ? " Jason wonders what it was like to study her blood if all she said was true meanwhile Erix doesn't seem interested in the topic of Lily's biology .
" No , I've made mentions that a drop is dangerous already " " Then how do you make that medicine " Lily sighs and leaves the explanation to Argus who tells them about the residents' ability to recreate a controlled environment
" They are asking if you can lend some of the residents . " " As lab rats that's a tall order " Lily told Jason " it seems like it's gonna be hard for us to seek cooperation between each other " Lily concluded " I'll send Argus to you Erix for negotiating to trade of technology "
the call closes and Lily checks on Hasst who has an infant dragon possessed by a soul " Amazing tool you have here " the monitor shows the dragon looking at Lily " I have to thank you for providing me with a body like this it is of excellent quality "
" Care to introduce yourself ? dragon or rider " " I am the ancestral dragon the first one to be exact " Lily wonders if that could explain the unusual size " And thank you for protecting my child he's the youngest and is slowly dying but you are amazing you're supposed to be dead but you seem more alive than my child "
" Sounds impressive right ? But don't you have a name at all ? " " No my children always call me mother " " Then Mother can you please tell me why the dragon riders think you're child is dead I can't help but think there's someone who wants to betray you "
" Oh don't worry about that my child is just very sick and everyone thinks that he's beyond saving " " Oh I see Hasst you there ? " Lily asked turning off the translator " Yep I'm here boss what do you need " " The data we told you to gather ? "
" Yeah I got it and here's the thing that egg is dead so I'm confused why that dragon thinks he's alive " " Probably because of the soul you know how some people cope remember that movie "
" So what do you want me to do ? " " Make sure the Maze corruption remains low in that location , I will take care of healing her "sick" child " Lily calls Argus " Argus I need to go check on the life Labyrinth I might find some answers on how to bring that child back "
" Do you have to go to that place ? " Hasst asked " Yes I got to the forest on a whim and Mother thought it gave her hope " " Will you like a more combat capable cane ? "
" Sure and make sure to get as much technology as you can get from Erix our technology that ignores the Labyrinth's distorted magnetic fields is going to boost a lot of things there "
" Do I even get support ? " " You have several crates of ammunition I'm sure even that is too much for you " Lily ends the call and Argus brings a cane with a vial of her blood inside and a mask as well as some googles " Alright Doorknob "
Lily walks out to a search allowing the water to soak on her skin as they dye themselves with poison " Well I'm sure my blood can make this disappear " Lily clicks a button and the vial's cover points towards the maze .
The blades covering it turn with an angle and start to spin blowing out a visible mist . It closes and gives Lily a fan which she uses to blow the mist to hit the Labyrinth's wall causing it to weaken .
Lily closes her fan and pushes the wall as it crumbles to rocks falls to the ground and turns to dust " I wonder what Life is supposed to be like "
" So when we came to this world on my back I had awoken only when my child was being harmed by those things they call Mazes , they wouldn't stop at nothing to hurt him , the dragon riders already proclaimed him as dead "
' I am listening to her backstory now am I ? ' " That girl sure is amazing something so small yet she could walk by death like it's part of her " Mother looks at Hasst " Aren't you going to tell me about her ? "
Argus sends a message to Hasst ' You will tell her anything about Mistress " " She's not as small as you think she is , you can snip a short strand of her hair and you'll see more inside it "
" It's not like this body is also any different I had to abandon my body to save my child so if you were to take out a piece of my body you would be having a big piece of my self "
" Look dragon I don't mean it in a spiritual sense I meant her body has more mass than it looks " " Huh how is that possible ? " " It's a long story " Hasst said hoping to cancel Argus's order " Then tell me "
Hasst sighed and started " This is gonna be long " Hasst wiped his face to get rid of the tiredness " Okay so I'm a little too strong for a human you know that , it's because I drank a bit of her blood " " Oh I know this ritual someone in the tribe tried to absorb the power of dragons by using dragon blood in some way "
Hasst wondered what kind of result that would be like getting scales or fire-breathing capabilities " So do you become her kin or the like ? " " Not sure about never checked it myself "
" So there are others who drank her blood ? " " A very diluted liquid of her blood right now her blood is toxic one drop and not only you die but also anything else around you and according to her and the older guys it that area of effect keeps growing "
" Oh so it's like that , usually any living beings that die become nutrients yet somehow they poison the world " " Not exactly one time someone tried to steal her blood and dropped the blood on the forest all the trees cracked and died but a single tiny little tree was able to survive just barely but that chance is decreasing now that her body is more potent "
" It harms the world and her yet she walks around as if she isn't in pain " " She said she got used to it " Hasst said " Then I hope she can help my child after all if she can find a way to fight the unbearable pain of many deaths hovering over her I'm sure she can teach my child how to "
Erix looks at the demands that Argus had asked " This seems plausible for us but how is it possible for you to be able to create technology like this , do you come from a civilization that had to deal with cosmic radiation ? "
" We have to deal with something similar " Erix wonders what that means and Argus receives a mission request "Gather genetic material" Argus scrolls through the information to see how beneficial this was for Lily and allows Scyan to do it , sending a vial with a single drop of Lily's blood to Scyan to resupply the medicine .
Jason watches Erix talk with Argus thinking of how he could allow this to benefit ' My divination shows that they're in the process of making more if I could ask them to cooperate it could be possible for us to increase our forces recreating our chimeras and maybe hatching of mythical beast '
Jason divined for a quick answer learning about the egg island ' But why this island specifically the dragon riders say that this egg is dead ? ' he used a spell and sent himself flying in the direction of the egg island .
While at the Labyrinth that trapped Life , the last wall separating Lily from the location of Life breaks down and Lily sees a beautiful lady " Hmm Death ? " Life asked in a beautiful voice that echoed through the labyrinth Lily didn't understand Life's language of choice and walked towards Life .
" I found this person which probably is death " Lily used the cane to show an image of death " Do you know this guy ? " Life stares at Lily and reaches out to her " these memories are more than what lifetimes could achieve "
Lily didn't feel fear of Life guessing Life must be unable to harm her " You walk between life and death for so long " Life said in Lily's language as she watched her memories " Surprising right although I'm still new to this Labyrinth so I'm not sure if that's special "
" you are here for me " " You're getting there " " You have an impressive amount of memories even more from the people who banished Death to this world " Lily was reminded about the theory and asked to clarify .
" If it's true that Death is banished to this world how come you're here " " Because life is part of a cycle , if you remove death I can't sustain the change , imagine a world where death doesn't exist , every life can't feed itself because it has to kill another to sustain itself that's why death is so important the people did a foolish thing to expel death of all creatures and were slowly tormented by their living existence so I banished myself "
" Ahh now I understand the lore but why do you get memories if you are alive aren't you like supposed to give life or something ? " " That is partly correct " Life's voice echoed inside the labyrinth " But it's not life that sustains life , Life creates life but death waters it "
" Wow that sounds so magical but still translates to the food chain I guess like plants eat broken-down corpses and why are you staring at me like this ? " " Observing your constitution it's unlike what I know or what the people know "
" We can talk about that later for now I just want to ask if it's possible for dead things to come back to life I'm always on the brink of death " " It is possible after all life came from things that weren't alive at all "
Life answered " I can sense that you intend to use me ? " " Oh is it because you can read my memories " " Yes I don't oppose it with your intentions to use me to get to death "
" Well then let's go there " Lily contacts her residence and says "Keep the door open for even longer " A door appears by the island where death resides , and the clear line between death's area of effect and the green grass shows .
" Life is full of surprises , I just met someone that's far beyond my expectations " Life looks at Lily and goes through the memories she obtained from her stay " That is only true because this world of full of it "
Lily walks out to the patches of gray grass thinking about Life " Why are you so ... Thoughtless ? " " I don't know " Lily thinks about what Life does and reaches to her slowly trying to sense any fear but nothing comes up , she holds Life's hand ' it's soft '
Memories of holding hands appear as Life absorbs the old memories again " There's something about your lack of thought that seems disturbing ... You sound more like something dead " Lily releases Life's hand " What do you want to do now ? " " To complete the cycle "
' so banishing herself wasn't just to free suffering but to complete that cycle is that her only goal ' Life looks at Lily and watches the grass wither at a distance and lose color " Death is coming " Lily feels her cells struggling to survive and feels the pain of several sicknesses increasing .
Life stares at Lily blankly as Death closes in coming faster than the dying that was occurring. She turns to see a hooded figure in black beside her " Life who is she ? " Life reaches out and shares her memories with Death " Oh so that's why I can sense death in her "
Lily notices that Death seems to have more emotions and asks " Why does Life seem so lifeless yet you are filled with life ? " " I could ask you the same thing too carrying all these deaths within you must be a pain and yet you keep living with it "
" I'm used to it however I didn't think you would be like this you know full of emotions or as a lot of people call it , life " " Because I existed longer than Life , so I got more time to self develop but she is pretty young " Death looks at Life " And can't find a place to belong "
Lily thinks about the Cycle " I'm very unfamiliar with a lot of things especially what you two are so explain it again in my language please " " Simple , we are part of a Cycle and a cycle without death can drain all the spirit any life can have like think of it as an immortal who gets sick of everything "
" So will you reunite with her ? " " No if I do that I will disappear from existence the cycle of life and death only exist if there is life for the cycle to turn " " Oh like a hamster in a wheel " Death looks at Lily " So can you be that Hamster ? "
" Why me specifically ? " " You are walking between the borders of life and death you're the most suitable to be the hamster " " But shouldn't the cycle move meaning someone has to die and something has to be born ? "
" It does but I don't want to lose my sense of self , for every death that happens I get memories that aren't mine which crumbles my self Life won't have a problem cause she barely developed a self but I will "
" So how does it work ? " Lily asked interested in the idea " You can just leave that to me it won't come without benefits you get to have an assassin but from your memories you could use something like Life's memory reading ability instead "
" You sure know me so what do I do ? " " Just stand between us Lily didn't feel any danger while Death fixed the cycle just enough to repair it on it's own " We're good to go "
" That was fast " " It was easy that way Mistress " Death said jokingly " Argus never makes sarcastic comments like that " Lily said acknowledging Death's joke .
" Well if we are going to be sticking by you we do have to keep a good relationship and how far you have progressed in this world is amazing " " I can't confirm if you're praising me or giving me a fact "
" Oh forgot that you haven't been in this world for a while " " So got any information for me ? " " A little bit from Life , she's been absorbing memories passively " " She always does that ? " " Not like she knows how to control it but I guess you can use her to translate whatever that core will say "
Lily remembers the core by her food supplier and looks at Life who remains still " So how should we solve the problem with Life being so lifeless ironically ? " " You don't like it ? " " I don't like things that don't react they feel dull and boring "
" It's best if you keep her inside you then or beside is fine it'll give her space to develop " " Do beside , inside sounds creepy " Lily said disgusted by the idea " You say that but you have things that kill inside you and I evolved from receiving those kinds of death so I guess I'm also disgusting ? "
" But how does that work ? " " Pretty simple the people that banished me wanted to live forever and to do that they sent away all the ways to die into this world in a package , me "
Lily started to understand " So do you plan to strengthen yourself by absorbing my pain ? " " Tempting but no , because it would mean I won't be complete again "
" Why is that ? " " Well think of it in your world's terms , I could rob a bank to get money to live off but that's not sustainable meanwhile if I get a job I get to develop proper earning skills , reputation and even a resume "
" So you want me to hire you ? " Lily thinks about the benefits she could get from having Death beside her " Yeah for my salary I need you to protect me from all the memories of the life I'm constantly killing it's a big headache " " Isn't there a way to keep that kind of ability suppressed ? "
" Of course there is like being beside a giant lifeform or bound to one like you which is better than sitting on the tail of the giant dragon that coils on a massive star " ' So that's why Life was in the labyrinth probably because it meant that the Labyrinth was giving her some protection from the memories '
" Okay I'll agree with that deal but wouldn't you be getting my memories instead ? " " We can lend that ability to you " Death offered and Lily wondered about the use she could get " Sure what is it like ? "
" For Life , you can get memories of any living you can't create life yet but it'll come eventually you don't need me to take the life of anything but you can get my ability to house anything that is dead or what you kill or just any souls lying around " " Just like the giant dragon ? "
" Yep in fact you can even use your body as an afterlife it's pretty spacious for something so small " " Seems to be a very cheap price to pay " " Oh you think so "
Death challenged Lily " Yeah I'm sure you've seen what my body , throw my blood into a volcano and you can expect the ozone layer gone and if there's more left maybe the moon will get more life "
" Then we can start " Death grabs Life's hand and transforms both of them into a crack jade pendant " Oh a halved donut " " That's funny Valley " Death laughed causing the black half of the jade to shake .
A chain forms " Wow this seems very fancy " " Wanna learn both of us have the collective knowledge of the ancient arts that deal with such things ? But you need to put us on "
" Alright " Lily grabbed the jade pendant and wore it holding the beautiful jewelry admiring the design and its magical ability to hold two halves together .
" Hmm this is amazing " Lily looks down at the ground thinking about what Death had said ' If it can wrap around the star wouldn't that make the ancestral dragon really big ? ' Lily wonders if this could mean that there'll be a loss of sea levels with the flight of the ancestral dragon .
She lets go of the pendant and says " My hands are on the doorknob " She returns and takes out her mask dropping it by Argus " So how was the deal ? " " They took it and Hasst encountered the Sages' representative they believe that you want something from them "
' I am interested in their magic but I can't do anything if I can't offer them anything ' " How about you offer them the ancient arts of the dead people I absorbed " " You'll give me that ? " " Yeah it'll be very useful for you "
' But why offer help ? ' " No use in hiding your questions Life is giving me your thoughts too you know " Lily felt bothered by it and decided to solve it " Wait no you wouldn't do that " " Then you better tell her to keep some things to herself she's not a problem at all but you are "
" Fine I'll tell her sheesh " " But you will still offer me the knowledge of the ancient arts they'll be plenty useful for me in negotiating " " Sure sure but the problem is it's gonna be hard to get it " " I'll find a way meanwhile you just sit back and listen so I can ask some questions "
' But that Resident will be mad if I keep abusing their ability best do it tomorrow '
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