CHAPTER 60: THE ECLIPSE HALL

Cecilia used the same method as the other day to transfer her newly created rune in Drakenhof to Marya, then used Mina’s rune to teleport.

Marya had gotten used to it already, but she still marveled at how much teleporting made life easier.

As usual, when Cecilia activated the rune for her teleport, a twisting void engulfed her. But, this time, something was different.

[User batch 03 - Error: Anchor saturation at 72%.]

[Warning: External influence detected in sector x00198d4.]

The two messages flickered with red font in the corner of her vision and were followed by a bunch of other debug messages. But then the world went black, and in the following instant, Cecilia was in her room in Aelindra’s house, before she could read them.

((What the fuck was that?))

According to game lore, teleportation in Hyperborea was less like moving and more like being rewritten in the new location.

((Is the isekai-ing of people to this world using the same core principles of teleportation, so the systems intersect? That would explain the debug log appearing during that brief moment. So, there’s an error with this new batch...))

Cecilia’s heart got heavy thinking about the possible consequences.

((If Helen is coming in this batch, I hope that she is alright and the error didn’t affect her. Well, at least now Martin’s theory is basically proved. Also, Aelindra’s call should have something to do with dealing with it.))

Mina appeared at her side, followed by Maria, interrupting her train of thought.

"That felt... rougher than it usually is."

Mina’s ears flicked in a catlike show of discomfort.

"That’s because it actually was rougher. Something wrong is not right here."

The Brazilian slang sounded weirder in English, and Cecilia immediately regretted saying it, but the other two didn’t notice.

Before anyone could say anything else, the door opened and a knight entered.

"Lady Morielen. Lady Mina. Miss Marya. Her Majesty awaits you in the Eclipse Hall."

"Thank you. We’ll be going right away."

They followed the knight out of the mansion and made their way to the Obsidian Keep.

Marya was looking at everything with shining eyes, but Cecilia was walking in front, silent. So it was Mina who explained the layout of the city and the meaning of the most noticeable buildings.

((She even sent a knight to wait for us. Things must really be in a precarious state.))

:::

The Eclipse Hall was the throne room from which Aelindra reigned. It was famous throughout the kingdom and was usually bustling with officials, the people who were waiting for the appointed time of their audience, and random people who went to watch the wise queen in action.

Attendance was open to any citizen of the kingdom. Every worker had, by law, a set number of days per year they could skip work to go to the Eclipse Hall. Of course, it was only valid if they presented a letter that proved attendance.

In times of crisis, though, it was closed off. And that was the case today.

When the trio entered the long, high-vaulted chamber, there were only four people inside. They were around a table at one corner of the hall, looking at some papers.

They were Aelindra herself, Siraaeniel, Ephyrael, and Jules.

Cecilia hurried to their side, but Marya was a bit slower.

She stood behind, marveling at the beautiful mosaic of obsidian and moonstone in the ceiling, depicting the phases of the moon in endless cycles. Light flickered on them, giving the impression that they stood underwater, surrounded by slow-moving stars.

"Mother."

Aelindra said softly, her voice cracking a bit, revealing the distress she was under.

The weight of that word snapped Marya out of her ceiling-gazing and back to reality. It was a word spoken in an intonation that made her throat tighten. The Wise Queen sounded less like a ruler and more like a daughter who had just woken up from a bad dream.

"Aelindra. Jules sent your message. What happened?"

Cecilia lowered her head and gulped, resisting the urge to cross the distance and just hold her daughter tightly. But that daughter was the queen, and this was her throne room. She had to show proper etiquette.

"It seems that your friend was right about his theory. There is another wave of player-related sightings around the country."

Cecilia didn’t tell her that Martin was back, because she knew that the shadow it would provoke in her daughter’s reign was exactly what he wanted to avoid. Yet, she felt the need to speak about the theory, just saying that it was from ’a player she had met.’

Siraaeniel adjusted his glasses with a faint motion of his fingers, eyes flicking between the maps and notes scattered over the table.

"The frequency of the sightings matches the early patterns of the first and second manifestations. Except this time, they’re concentrated in the north. Near the ruins of the Eclipsed Sanctuary."

Ephyrael exhaled, his voice a low hum, slow and mournful.

"That’s where Aenoth used to go to pray."

Jules didn’t know who Aenoth was, but he sensed it was someone important. Yet, he decided to add another important piece of information.

"The reports say the northern sky’s been flaring like a bad shader. Something big’s stirring up the mana flow."

Nobody else understood the reference of a ’bad shader,’ except for Cecilia. She remembered her own experience in the forest, where the ancient algorithm had been still active, and a shudder ran down her spine.

"Is it that bad?"

"I don’t know the danger level, but... Check opening your UI and turning towards the north."

Cecilia did that, and then she noticed the screen glitching slightly.

"It’s glitching."

"Yeah. And it’s only in that direction. But it seems that only our own UIs are affected..."

Siraaeniel complemented, in a cold, logical speech.

"My UI wasn’t affected, nor Aelindra’s or Ephyrael’s. My hypothesis is that it only affects players."

Marya had been having her eyes out of focus, but she heard the last comment and focused back on the others.

"I was just checking mine, wondering why I couldn’t see anything different. But that makes sense, I think. I assume you are another player, then?"

Her excited eyes had for the first time acknowledged Jules’ existence. It wasn’t like she was ignoring him or something. She was just too overwhelmed by the place, the people involved, and the information being discussed.

She felt completely out of her depth there, and there was too much information for her little brain to go through.

Yet, she still wanted to help in whatever way she could. That’s why she dared to say something in that meeting, adding her little piece of information.

Jules chuckled at Marya’s sudden enthusiasm and answered a bit embarrassedly.

"Yeah... I’m not nearly as awesome as the others here, though. I was a low-level player."

He knew that he was still at a very high level for today’s overall standards. He was a big fish, but the pond he was in right now had only megalodons swimming. In a sense, his own self-worth perception was even more broken than Marya’s.

But Aelindra, having recomposed herself and gotten back to her professional mood, brought the conversation back on track.

"Mother. There have been rumors... Hunters have been claiming to have glimpsed a woman walking beneath the auroras. Pale, silver-haired, barefoot on the snow. They say that the cold follows her and that animals bow their heads when she passes."

Cecilia froze, already getting where this conversation was heading. Aelindra continued talking.

"She hasn’t come near any settlements. No attacks. No message. Only... those disturbances. As she had seemed harmless, we left her to her own devices. But that is probably Aenoth.

And she seems to have gained some sort of power even higher than ours, even if the three of us combined them together. If she is able to mess with the return of players like that..."

Aelindra couldn’t get herself to finish the phrase, the implication of what she meant hanging in the air like knives.