Chương 232: Chapter 228: Impossibilities

Dan had no idea how he was supposed to contact Nyxila. He wasn't sure it was even a good idea. Not if his… hunch had any merit. The road to the Technocult temple was sealed shut, and the sole cultist he'd spotted as he tried to reach the cathedral hadn't given him the time of day. It had been a long shot, but after that he'd gone back to the ward and hoped the overseer had seen her. Or maybe even had a way to get in touch. Nothing had brought him closer to finding her.

It had taken him days to gather the courage to approach Nyxila. No matter how amicable their previous interactions, if she actually had any involvement in Solan's downfall, that meant he didn't know her at all. Though, during all the time he'd stared up at the fake Iris and thought of Nyxila, he never once considered that it might be difficult to find her. All their lives, he'd known where to find her. He never needed to, but she was always there, tucked away in her far room or the distant corner of the kitchen.

At least, that's how it had been before their Naming. No. Nyxila had been the same as ever — not up to their Naming — but until right before it. Looking back at her actions in hindsight, her attitude had shifted overnight. It wasn't some revelation upon receiving a second cursed name that hardened her. She had already changed before then. Was her reason for trying to kill K'tan really because she discovered he was planning to sacrifice her? Had the bastard really just let himself be overheard?

All the kids in the ward knew he was taking sacrifices… but none had proof. He was careful. Too careful to have his plans be discovered by the one girl constrained to her own sickly bubble. It never happened. Not unless the man had, for some reason, decided to spout his intent outside her door. More likely, she had another reason to want the man dead. And she actually had a way to accomplish it. No wonder Nyxila hadn't involved Dan and Ari when she'd offed him.

The more he thought about it, the more sure he became that Nyxila was hiding a mountain. That she was involved in Solan's death. And the more certain he became, the more nervous. Why the fuck was he looking for her? If she'd been hiding so much about herself and what she knew, then he didn't know her nearly as well as he'd thought. He was approaching the possible killer of the Fleshsmith leader and about to tell her he knew what she did… what kind of reaction would that trigger?

Even if she was still only third evolution as he'd last known her to be, that was still enough to cut him up into a million tiny little pieces and hide them where no accretion light would ever reach. Dan stopped, nodded to himself, and turned away from the Biovault. It had been a long-shot anyway. His change was so sudden that he almost walked face first into the person behind him.

"I heard you've been looking for me?" Dan would later be very glad he didn't fall flat on his ass and piss himself as he nearly bumped into the girl he'd just decided could kill him in a moment. Didn't help the squeak that left his lips, though.

"Wha- How?" Dan fumbled over his words.

"What are you doing here? How did you know I was trying to find you?" Nyxila shrugged dismissively.

"Oh, you know. A little roach-spawn told me." Dan took a moment to collect himself and inspect the girl he hadn't seen in weeks. In that time, she'd clearly grown healthier. Her cheeks were fuller. Not the bony, pale, sickly face he'd always known. Sure, he'd known she was getting better during the Trials, but now that he saw that she actually looked somewhat normal, it took Dan off guard. Of all things to startle him, he never thought it would be because his friend didn't look half-dead. And yet…

something still set him off. Dan wasn't sure if it was his own hyperactive imagination riled up by a week of doubts and fears, but that normal didn't seem right. But that made no sense. Nyxila had evolutions behind her, and a cult investing heavily in her; she would be eating well. It was expected that her issues with curses would fade. But that wasn't it. Dan didn't know why his mind expected there to be… more to Nyxila, but he did. The fact that she still looked mostly like the same person seemed wrong.

She clashed with the image he had formed in his head. This girl standing before him couldn't possibly have killed Solan. It was impossible. And now the doubts were back in full force. All those clues pointed his thoughts one way, but he could not possibly look at this girl as she finally achieved some form of health after being terminal for her entire life and see someone capable of killing a cult leader. It was obscene. Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road.

Support the author by reading it there.

"You needed me?" Nyxila asked again, snapping Dan out of his reverie.

"I was wondering if you'd seen Ari lately?" Dan made up on the spot. Whether she was involved in her death or not, it would not be a good idea to ask outright. For a dozen reasons.

"She's never at the ward when I return. And finding her has been impossible."

"She's missing?" Nyxila asks, suddenly serious.

"No, no," he hurried to reassure her, knowing where her mind might have gone.

"The caretakers say she returns every night, but she's been cagey with them about what she's been up to. Now that I have to live with the cult, I haven't been able to see her. I was hoping she might have met with you."

"No. I haven't seen her. But…" Nyxila's eyes trailed over his shoulder.

"I can have a roach-spawn look for her." He swore the tiniest hint of a smirk crossed her lips. Dan twisted, looking for what his former ward-mate had been looking at, but found nothing. He'd thought she was joking about the roach-spawn. Maybe she'd actually formed a bond with a nest of them. An incredibly strange decision for a Technocultist.

"You haven't replaced any of yourself with machine?" Dan made the realisation. Not a part of that which he could see was metal. Though, that didn't mean much when so much was covered by that new cloak of hers. Though, his eyes did fall on one of her shoulders suspiciously. The cloak protruded at an odd angle, asymmetric to her other side. If her hand didn't still have visible skin, he might have thought she'd sacrificed an arm.

"No," she confirmed, to his relief.

"And I don't intend to. Still, they've given me a few toys that have been very… fun." He wasn't sure he liked how bloodthirsty her enunciation of the word was. But, he was more than a little happy to hear she hadn't sacrificed parts of herself. It was a stupid thought, he knew. Dan shouldn't impose his own fears and concerns upon others.

"Can I see?" For the briefest of instants, Nyxila froze.

"Sure!" she chirped, and it was as if she'd never been reluctant to share. But for all Dan's faults, his eyes were good. That was not something he'd miss. Nyxila extracted a canister from beneath her robe as she led Dan off the beaten path and away from the Biovault. He could understand the need for privacy. While the harbinger guards around the market and Biovault were neutral to the warring factions, they were still competing cultists.

What she was going to show was likely not something she wanted everyone to know about. He intentionally avoided thinking about how perfect this isolated space was to kill someone without anyone ever finding out.

"It's a flamethrower," she said, handing him the tube.

"I'd love to give you a demonstration, but they tend to explode rather violently after being used a few times." Dan suddenly felt very uncomfortable with the weapon in his hands. He shot Nyxila a look, and forced her to take it back. Still, he held it for long enough to notice one strange fact about the machine.

"How do you hold it?" he asked.

"There's no handle?" Dan was curious if the Technocult had some alternative method to hold a weapon like that. Maybe they had been designed for someone who'd sacrificed their hands, and she was stuck with generalised productions. The question held no base of suspicion. But Nyxila's reaction changed that.

"Huh. Well, I better go have a chat with my roach-spawn." She deflected.

"I'll be right back." Dan furrowed his brows as much as the eversight assists would allow. He wanted to hold her up and poke for why a question of handles would inspire such a reaction, but Nyxila was already gone. What was he even doing? It was impossible to just ask what was so strange about her. She'd kept it hidden for a reason, and his asking wasn't about to get an answer. But he couldn't even grasp at exactly what the girl was hiding. All the oddities around her and her actions were seemingly random.

He had been so sure of his conclusion about Solan. But face to face with Nyxila and the lack of intimidating presence she wielded made it hard to see how she ever could have achieved it. No matter how impossible everything else that happened around her. Dan needed a middle point. He needed to approach her about a small detail that she wouldn't be so on-guard about.

"Ari is apparently stalking some Omen Artisan." Nyxila returned before he could actually decide what he would confront her on.

"We can go and find her now, if you want."

"No, that's fine," Dan said. Only when Nyxila raised a brow did he realise he'd gone against his original reason for approaching her. She only seemed curious. Not annoyed. He let out a silent breath. This would be fine.

"I never got to congratulate you on winning the Trials. So, uh, congrats." Dan winced at his lame attempt.

"I'd be lying if I said I believed you could do it. To be honest, I still think you achieved the impossible there." Nyxila frowned at the way he said 'impossible'. Good. She needed to know he was aware just how infeasible what she'd done actually was.

"You would have evolved after that, right?" he asked.

"I'd rather not call you by N̪ỷx̱ila if that's no longer your name."

"Right. Yeah, N̪ỷx̱ila is outdated now." She paused. Dan got a sinking feeling as Nyxila seemed to ponder what to say for an instant longer than she should have.

"I'm N̪ỷx̱̽ala now." Dan was staring so hard at her now that there was no way he could miss the ever so slight recoil of her expression. She was uncomfortable introducing herself by that name.

"That is not your name." Nyxala winced.

"It's not. I was just hesitant to say as it seems-"" Impossible?" Dan finished for her.

"Yes." Nyxala was quiet for a moment.

"If you'll believe it, my name is now N̪ỷx̱̽alr̘a͎i." Dan tried not to go any more bug-eyed than his eversight assists already made him. Sixth evolution? He'd prepared himself for fifth. Given Nyxalrai's unimpressed gaze, he had not succeeded. He tried to press her further, but as he thought of the Dark Stars he believed she was able to make, his words clammed up in his throat. She had clearly been hunting the Fleshsmiths. All of them. Starting at K'tan.

"Thank you for saving Ari."

"What?" Nyxalrai was genuinely confused.

"Another of your impossibilities," Dan spoke quietly. Reserved.

"You saved Ari from the Dark Star you created." Nyxalrai said nothing. She held her expression stiff, but by the rapid pace her eyes twitched and jerked around, she was thinking at a pace he couldn't comprehend. Well, he'd come this far.

"N̪ỷx̱̽alr̘a͎i… you were the one to kill Solan, weren't you?"