Chapter 307 – Bleeding Heart

Emily’s the first to finish her duties so, with a head full of extended information packets on half a dozen jobs, she heads to the commercial district of the hub to look for a good bar. She passes several places advertising rooftop views over the hub, but the place that catches her eye is a small, unassuming building tucked between two skyscrapers. The name ‘Crystal Palace’ is carved into a chunk of marble fixed above the door, and Emily can’t feel a single energy signature inside.

Either the place is empty, or their privacy barriers are exceptional.

She pushes the door open and, the moment she steps in, she feels dense energy hanging in the air, tens of enchantments covering the room but just out of reach of her senses, and a fourth phase martial artist a few metres ahead, standing behind a welcoming desk. They have pale white, porcelain-like skin and deep purple crystals in place of their hair and eyes. They’re wearing a neat shirt as pale as their skin, with a deep black waistcoat over the top.

A phosphelite.

“Hello, Miss, what name would your reservation be under?” the gem-person asks politely, meeting Emily’s gaze with a smile that lacks any real warmth.

“I don’t have one,” Emily replies, watching their smile vanish as confusion creases their brow.

“That… shouldn’t be possible. Only those who’ve booked ahead should be able to see our premises. My apologies, but I’m afraid I’m going to have to ask you to leave.”

“That’s a shame.” Emily turns to leave, but a sneaking suspicion and a faint nudge of instinct makes her hesitate. She glances back and decides to take a risk. “The name, Emily Coldstone, wouldn’t happen to ring any bells, would it?”

The phosphelite’s eyes widen, and they glance down at her metal arm before bowing their head and gesturing to a door behind them.

“My mistake; a student of The Queen needs no appointment to make use of our services. Please head down; I shall have the royal suite prepared for you immediately.”

“Thank you. My partner, Silvia, will be arriving shortly. Will she be allowed entry?”

“Of course. So long as you tell her where to find us, the door will be open to her.”

Emily nods and follows her curiosity, stepping through the only door in the small lobby and into an even smaller elevator with marble panelling covering the walls and white light crystals lining the ceiling. The door shuts behind her, and Emily feels herself moving downwards despite the room feeling completely stable, not a single sign of the movement reaching her beyond her impeccable spatial senses. She sends Silvia a message through her Terminal while waiting for the ride to stop.

The elevator continues down for miles before eventually opening up to reveal a wide cavern filled with energy so dense it gathers into a shimmering mist that wraps around her ankles. There are several tables filling the space, only half of them occupied, separated by wide gaps and wrapped in layers of enchantments that prevent Emily from overhearing what the occupants are saying, seeing what they look like, or sensing their energy signatures. Each seated person is covered with a layer of distortion that completely hides their forms and hurts the eyes to look at for too long.

The roof of the cavern sits high above and is made from an enchanting layer of crystals shining multicoloured light over the space, like standing in the centre of the universe’s largest geode. The sight is more beautiful than any night sky, filled with dizzying fractals of light and form that draw Emily’s attention and refuse to let it go. She stands near the entrance for a few moments, taking in the space, before a third circle phosphelite wearing the same formal attire as the one above approaches. There’s a distinctly feminine quality to their carefully carved face; and their eyes and long, flowing crystalline locks are a matching crimson hue.

“Hello, Miss Co-”

“Please, just Emily.”

“Of course, Miss Emily. I am Cinna, and I shall be serving you today. Please, follow me.”

The gem leads her towards the centre of the cavern. There’s a conspicuous gap in the middle of the space, with tens of metres empty of tables, and the moment they step into it, the room around them vanishes. The occupied tables and smooth stone flooring fade from view, letting Emily see the crystal surface surrounding them in a perfect sphere. The only thing other than the walls of the space that remains visible is a plush-looking seat practically large enough to be a bed, with enough room to hold at least four people and two flat surfaces floating on either side.

“You mentioned a partner yet to arrive,” Cinna explains, stepping aside and bowing as Emily passes. “So, we have chosen this configuration of the suite. Please inform me if there’s anything not to your satisfaction, or any changes you would like made.”

“It’s perfect,” Emily replies, waving off her concern and sinking into the seat.

“Wonderful. Will you be eating with us, or shall I just bring you the drinks menu?”

“The drinks menu will do, for now.”

“Understood. I shall return shortly.”

Cinna turns and vanishes after a few steps. Emily immediately releases her mana completely, scanning the intriguing multi-layered barrier creating the isolated space. She finds a heavy presence of spatial runes, though reading which ones exactly proves a challenge, along with a blend of other elements and a large number of those without a specific alignment.

Dissecting the barriers proves beyond her, a fact that only increases her desire to keep trying, but she’s able to confirm that they should completely block anyone outside of the space, even the staff, from seeing or sensing what’s happening within. While most of the runework is shielded in secrecy, trying to keep her senses away, she finds a clear, unconcealed cluster of runes just below her seat that allow her to block entry into the space, along with another that calls for attention from outside.

The royal suite indeed.

Cinna returns with a small mental crystal in hand, not batting an eye at Emily’s oppressive mana filling the space nor her ongoing attempts to peer into the suit’s barriers. She hands over the crystal with a bow.

“I see you are familiarising yourself with the suite. Please activate the call enchantment when you’ve decided what you would like to drink.”

She leaves her alone to read the contents of the crystal, where she finds a long list of different drinks, most of which she’s never heard of. None of their prices is below a hundred credits.

“I have to say,” Silvia purrs as she strides into the private bubble, drawing Emily’s attention away from the long selection she barely knows what to do with. “You certainly know how to pick a location. I should be surprised you managed to stumble upon such an exclusive locale, but I guess it’s hardly a shock given your unique status.”

The vampire lowers herself into the seat beside Emily, wrapping an arm around her and plucking the crystal menu from her grasp.

“Should I have known what the Crystal Palace was?” Emily questions, relaxing into Silvia’s touch and beginning to layer several of her own barriers within the space, just in case.

“No. While its existence as one of Phospherian’s greatest successes is something of an open secret, it’s only spoken of among those likely to receive an invitation. Their locations are scattered around the universe, in the territories of all three universal groups, and they’re treated as a neutral ground among the upper echelons,” Silvia explains, finding something she likes on the menu and setting the crystal down on the floating surface closest to her. Emily activates the runes to call for Cinna. “Getting an open invitation to reserve a table is only guaranteed to the strong, those eighth level and above, while those weaker only have a chance if they’re particularly noteworthy or receive a one-time referral from someone with an invite.”

“Have you been before?”

“Yes, but not by my own merit. There was a location on my birth planet, and my family often held meetings there. I also came once with Yorn, but he was only invited by another to discuss a job; he never qualified as noteworthy enough himself.”

Cinna steps into the suite, and Silvia orders a bottle of ‘Chrysthellium’, a drink Emily’s never heard of before but saw near the top of the menu’s price list at just over ten thousand credits.

“I take it that’ll be worth my hard-earned credits,” Emily says as the phosphelite leaves them alone again.

“Oh? You’re treating me, are you?” Silvia purrs in amusement.

“It’s only fair. You did pay for our first date after all.”

“Ha, that I did.”

“Besides, I’ll still have enough left for material shopping after this and, even if I run low, I’m sure I can think of a reason my creations will benefit the crew so I can request some funds from the main account.”

“Wow, getting bold in our position now, are we? Cheeky.” Silvia grabs her chin, drawing her into a kiss and running fingers along her neck. “But I’ll allow it. Especially if you dedicate some of your attention to making our new recruits equipment.”

“Mmm,” Emily hums in agreement, shifting to straddle the vampire’s lap and trailing kisses along her jaw. “How did the recruitment go?”

“Well enough. There were plenty who your son turned away due to malicious intent, and a few he dismissed because they believed we’d continue certain practices Yorn approved of, but the majority are promising. We’ve regained a lot of our lost unawakened numbers, and we now have another fifth phase martial artist among our ranks: a half-dwarf named Gern, along with his two fourth level compatriots,” Silvia explains, sliding her hands beneath Emily’s jacket and tracing her fingers along the edges of her armour plating. “What about you? Any promising jobs?”

“A couple, but the most interesting one is a shared contract on both the pirate and mercenary boards.” Emily casts a simple mental spell, collecting the information packets from her mind and pushing them into Silvia’s, meeting no resistance as her partner lets her in.

“Hmm.” Silvia’s eyes glaze over as she processes the flood of knowledge.

Cinna enters with two crystal-clear glasses and a sealed bottle pulsing with energy, setting them on one of the floating tables without a word before leaving. Emily draws the table over with a light gust of mana, activating the runic cluster to seal the suit, before lifting the bottle and gazing into the glistening, multicoloured liquid within. She can see currents of energy swirling through it, forming crystalline patterns that burst like miniature explosions before folding into the shifting hues.

Beautiful.

She breaks the bottle’s seal, releasing a sharp, faintly sweet scent that fills the suite in an instant. She fills both glasses, handing Silvia hers before taking a slow sip. The drink dances on her tongue, breaking down into a hot and cold flow that floods her circles and cortex with fresh energy. She can feel the drink’s value as a cultivation resource, but she quickly realises it’s a fraction weaker than the wine Silvia broke out after Yorn’s defeat.

It really was a treasure…

“We’ll take the extermination request,” Silvia finally declares, sighing with satisfaction as she nurses her own glass. “It sounds like an interesting challenge, and I’m sure you and Elwaine will be able to claim the pagoda if we wipe out its inhabitants. It’ll make a fine addition to our fleet.”

“I thought you’d agree.” Emily grins, running her hands across the vampire’s chest and feeling the warmth spreading beneath her skin.

It’s warm… is machina the only cold cultivation energy?

They lapse into comfortable silence and work their way through the bottle together until only a quarter is left. Setting down her empty glass, Silvia waves off a silent offer of a refill before gently running her tongue along Emily’s neck, pulling back for a moment to meet her eyes with a hungry grin.

“Can I?”

Emily wordlessly nods, relaxing into the vampire as her fangs sink into her neck. She keeps sipping her own glass as Silvia drinks, feeling the energy mixing into her circles and cortex before flowing out into her partner. Another stream of warmth enters her through the bite, and Emily feels a wave of relaxation spread through her body, leaving her in a pleasant, heady daze by the time the bottle’s done and Silvia withdraws her teeth.

Emily wraps her arms around Silvia and lays her head on her shoulder, shutting her eyes and enjoying the faint scent of blood and flowers that always lingers around her.

“So, darling,” Silvia whispers softly, running her fingers through Emily’s hair and along her spine, “if you’re not ready to talk about it, just tell me, but… while we’ve spoken of your sister’s fate, you’re yet to speak of your shared father…”

Emily sighs, letting the implied request linger in the air for a few minutes before coming to a decision.

“Herber’s death was… the single most traumatic thing I’ve ever been through,” she admits quietly.

She pulls her metal arm out from behind the vampire and twists it unnaturally to present its bicep without lifting her head. With a light current of machina, the panels covering it shift, splitting apart to reveal The Clock ticking away inside.

“This is in part to blame. My single greatest creation.” Another stream of machina opens the pocket watch, exposing the glowing time crystal within. “And not one I can truly claim as solely my own work. I made it before I knew of magic’s existence, and this was originally a lightning crystal. I awakened the moment it was complete, and the universe’s consciousness blessed it as a gift, turning it into this: The Clockwork of Time.”

Silvia has a short intake of breath, realisation quickly settling upon her.

“Can it…”

“Twenty-four hours. At will,” Emily answers the unspoken question, re-closing her arm and putting it back around the vampire. “A full memory transfer that feels as if I’ve lived a time no one else knows of. I’ve had to become more careful in its use now that I’m outside of Ulea’s mortal barrier, since that’s what drew The Queen of Gem’s attention, but it's soul-bound to me, and even she couldn’t block its use, only track it.”

“Incredible,” Silvia murmurs, her tone seeped in awe.

“It is.”

“Oh, darling, you misunderstand,” Silvia purrs, kissing the side of her head. “I was talking about you.”

“Ha,” Emily laughs wetly, ignoring her once-sealed emotional vault splitting open and the tears staining her partner’s robes. “Hardly. You see, even a universe given gift can’t undo my own idiocy. That crystal was stolen, and my awakening drew the attention of those that I took it from. The Clock couldn’t go back past my awakening or its own creation…”

Words flow from her unbidden, her anger and grief pouring out as she tells Silvia everything from the first system window she saw to the moment she pretended to accept the Mandrago family’s brand.

“…the worst part is, while at the time I fully believed there was nothing I could have done to save him, I now find myself questioning that judgement. I know it’s theoretically possible for a first circle mage to beat a fourth, but I-”

“Emily, dear, stop,” Silvia cuts her off, her fingers still tracing soothing patterns against her scalp. “You may be the greatest talent I’ve ever had the pleasure of meeting, but even for you that’s a ridiculous expectation. A first circle has a chance against a fourth with resources, an incredible amount of preparation, and the element of surprise. Not with a few lesser crystals and makeshift weapons, regardless of how long you had to think. You were a freshly awakened child. Don’t rethink the situation with the mind of a seasoned veteran and expect yourself to have done the same then.”

Emily lets out a huff but doesn’t argue, feeling more worn out than she has in years despite not having fought a single battle.

“That was a horrible situation to be put in, but you did your best at the time. Regardless of how it turned out, I’m proud of you, and I’ll tell you that every time you try to doubt yourself.”