Infinity in the Void – Freedom in the Abyss

It was late at night, everyone had gone to sleep except for some people, Francis and Mitsuki.

Charlotte didn't approach them, instead, she just went to the smoldering campfire, igniting it back up.

She took in a deep breath and gathered her thoughts.

For her, this trip was fun despite the creeping anxiety. She wanted this trip to be a bit longer, to push the thoughts of fighting the Other Ego and the Fragment of the Universe stress her out, not because she is scared of them, it is because of what to come after.

That would mean the truce between all three, Human, Beast, and Nature would be broken.

Charlotte does not trust Avalon. That is a fact. She knows it will only follow the most logical choice as an animal.

Kalpas even less so, she had not had many chances to interact with them. She knows nothing about it.

The Records of Cosmos, Roko, is a non-threat in her eyes. Because of her separating it and Mitsuki, it was premature even if it had help from Theia. And it does not have any special conditions for its survival like Avalon and Kalpas.

She shook her head and stood up, trying to get rid of the thoughts and all about strategizing. There are things Charlotte wants to do first.

"Delusion."

She vanished, leaving not a single trace in the camp.

And Charlotte appeared in the Nevada desert first.

Her gaze fixated on the City of Sins, shining bright like a beacon in the midst of nowhere, highrises going from left to right covering her horizon.

Charlotte let out a sigh, "Hah... sorry, mom."

She summons Quirinus, the silver lance covering her left arm with its tendrils as she resonates with it. Charlotte pointed the lance up into the sky, the crimson spikes began to pulse and glow.

With her at the center, clouds gather around her high above the sky. Thunder rumbles and roars, and the sky darkens. And rain began to fall, blanketing the entire state in a massive storm. Then she teleports the lance away.

Then she vanished again.

To go where she wanted to go for a while.

She was in Athens, walking out of a dark alley and into the busy street packed full of people. Greece is always a popular tourist destination so it's always crowded.

Yet people unconsciously made way for Charlotte, avoiding her without knowing why.

She stopped at a flower shop, looking over them to pick which bouquet to get. Crossing her arms and thinking hard... only to realize she isn't used to this kind of thing.

She went to look for the shopkeeper, she looked way younger than Charlotte, "Excuse me, I am visiting someone's grave. Which flower should I get?"

"Oh, is it someone you know?", the shopkeeper looks at Charlotte with a sad expression on her face.

"No, I've never met them.", she shook her head, "I am visiting their grave for the first time..."

"Oh...", the shopkeeper understood immediately.

Because of the Civil War, many families were separated, some escaped overseas, and many died during that time.

"Hmm, I suggest a bouquet of anemones, that's the most common flower people buy here.", she suggested, "But in the end, any flower is fine."

Charlotte thinks about it for a moment, "Then can I have a bouquet of lilies and anemones in blue and white."

"That will be €35, miss.", she spoke gently.

Charlotte took out her credit card, "Do you take credit or..."

"Credit is fine.", the shopkeeper smiles at her.

Then she proceeds to quickly pick out the flowers from her shop and arrange them into a beautiful bouquet.

"Here you go, miss.", she handed the bouquet to Charlotte.

"Thanks.", Charlotte too smiled back, making the woman blush from how good the Princess looked.

After finishing with the payment, Charlotte went to the Memorial Cemetery, which was right next to the museum.

"Hmm, this place doesn't get a lot of visitors, it seems.", she mumbled to herself as she observed the cemetery, stretching along the horizon to near the Parthenon.

There was one particular grave that was larger than the rest, that was her destination.

She looks at the graves, they are built based on the person's religion. Those who are Christian have a cross on their grave, while those who follow tradition or believe in no gods have a gravestone in the form of a house with their picture on it, or an urn carrying their ashes.

After the death of Tartarus, Greece descended into a four-year civil war. Those who want to reinstate the gods, those who fought against the gods, those who fight to end the war, and along many other factions fighting for their own ideals.

It was a tragedy and is remembered as a tragedy. Only stopped when people realized all of this fighting had no meaning when so much was already lost to the war.

She reached the grave of her father, a statue of him standing majestically holding the flag of the Hellenic Republic.

"Andras Silvi.", she tenderly placed the bouquet on his grave.

She did not say anything, just standing there in silence for a while. She has nothing to say, nothing to tell to the grave of her father. Though she feels the faintest connection to him, she struggles to speak.

There was so much she could say, but at the same time, she could say nothing.

To talk to a grave is meaningless.

Sighing to herself, Charlotte took a flower from the bouquet and went behind her father's grave. There was a smaller grave there, on it was a picture of a young girl wearing a sundress, smiling happily with all the joy in the world.

"Kaios Silvi.", this grave belonged to her mother.

She placed the single lily on her grave.

Then she left, running away from her emotions, vanished, and reappeared on her ship.

"Hah... what am I doing?", she wondered and clicked her tongue.

Is the stress getting to her and making her more sentimental? For the fear that she might not be able to do what she wants to do? To tie up loose ends?

That might be it.

But her journey does not stop here.

She moved once more, this time... to where it all began. Her room in the Babel headquarters. It was empty as she had moved everything of worth to her onto Prydwen.

And with the repeated use of her Inner World, she can barely remember this place...

But this is not her destination. She turned her back, and the door opened by the courtesy of Utopia.

She slid her fingers on the dining table, it was clean without a speck of dusk. After all, this is where Seria works.

She enters the main facility, going down a grey hallway. To where the air began to grow cold and numerous Runes and other symbols began to show, appearing more and more in quantity.

To where the cryogenically frozen Gem Holders are, those of Project Belial if her memory is correct.

"O' Ancient Souls of Divinity, may you be Forgotten."

A tiny speck of white light blinked into existence, floating above her right index.

"O' Spirits of Nature, may you Return to Nothing."

She did not want to affect the entire base, making it fall down into the Atlantic Ocean, so she made it as small and weak as possible.

"To you, Remnants of the Ancient Eras...", she pointed the light toward the pods, "May your Existence be Denied."

The light exploded, covering the entire room in a flash.

"Phantasmal Denial."

After the light was gone, the malignants of those Gem Holders went away, showing not a single sign of corruption from being taken over.

"I promised you all, didn't I?", Charlotte bloomed a faint smile.

With that, she returned to the camp, sitting by the warm fire, staring at it.

Mitsuki approached her, but she did not say anything after reading the air. She just sat down next to Charlotte, leaning on her for a while.

"You seem to be depressed.", Mitsuki spoke.

"That's not it.", Charlotte shook her head, "I just have a lot of things I need to do first. Again, I'm not depressed, I'm just... lost."

"Aww! Come here!!", she hugged the Princess, "There's always time for a hug!!"

"Fine.", Charlotte accepted it.

They stayed together for a long time until the fire went out.

 

=0=0=

 

"Alright everyone, we are returning to the ship, and we are going fast.", I spoke as the students packed up their stuff, "I expect all of you to not be lost. Remember, always go in a group of two or three to have each other's back."

Hmm?

I look over to the horizon... another storm is brewing...

I don't like it. There is something foreboding about this storm in particular... that confirmed my uneasiness.

"We need to hurry.", I urged them, turning to Francis, "Summon the entire army and clear a way, I don't care about the trees or anything..."

A crimson topaz bird landed on my shoulder.

"Theia had reached the inner depth of Atlantis."

Huh... this will be troublesome...

I have to make sure the students get back to America safely.

Francis went up to me, noticing my serious expression, "What's going on?"

"The Other Ego of the World is making its move.", I stated, letting go of my beef with her for a moment, "We don't have time."

"Don't you have anything to make this faster?", she frowned a bit.

"I like to break laws as much as the next person...", which is Francis, a queen, someone who is the foundation of laws, "But no, I can't teleport them all without risk."

I've only ever teleported with Mitsuki or a Herald. Not on such a massive scale with this many people, and I don't have enough care for other's safety.

Wait...

"I have a plan.", I smiled, walking into the portal with Francis following behind, "Step back..."

The thrusters of Ouroboros Omniscia opened up, they hum their soft engine noises. I lifted the coffin, the bottom part transformed, revealing the barrel of the laser. It begins to charge up...

"Hey, Francis. Do you want to see how strong I can be? How crazy humanity could be?", I spoke with a dangerous tone.

"What are you..."

Before she can continue, the thrusters blarred up, going full capacity. All to counteract the recoil of the destructive beam of plasma.

BOOM!!!!

The beam of blue light carved out the rainforest, expanding the further it goes out. Yeah, I probably need shades for this. And in the end, a path carved right out of the Amazon is cleared.

The students just got out too, and most of them are shocked at what I just did... well, this is an international crime I just committed.

"What the fuck?", Francis just stare at me in disbelief.

"Everyone, change of plan.", I spoke out loud, "We are going to book it. Francis, summon your army and have them carry the students and other things."

"What—"

"JUST FUCKING DO IT!!", I yelled at her.

She quickly did as I requested, opening her briefcase and a legion of ghost warriors came out.

"This is going to be rough, I don't know what's going on but Sinclaire said things are looking bad. Despite her being crazy...", she looks at me.

"Being on the sea for long enough, reading clouds are easy.", I look up to the sky, "That isn't a cloud pattern."

"Won't staying on land be safer?", a student asked.

I glared back at them, making them shiver from the change in atmosphere, "My ship can handle anything, it's the safest thing."

Mitsuki came running up to me, "Is it time?"

"Yes, it is.", I came closer to her, whispering into her ears, "I'll be going for a while, so take over my duties for a bit."

"Of course!!", she happily agreed, then she smiled, "Just... come back, alright?"

That got a chuckle out of me, "I always come back."