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Chapter Text

“Survival is the ability to swim in strange water.”

― Frank Herbert, Dune

A flicker of blue within blue. A field of gold shimmering in the breeze. And in the distance, a name was called.

"Baam."

The only person who had ever called him that name was Rachel, but this person was not Rachel. He only caught a glimpse of blue eyes before the vision shifted again.

Viole was dreaming again. He tried to steer the course of his mind the way Hwaryun showed him how to read Paths. Towards the green glow from a glass tank. A monstrous eel writhed inside, its tail thrashing against the glass as if to break it. Outside the tank, the Shinsoo pressure was immense, but nothing he had never encountered before.

The scene shifted to a crowd of people he had never met. They were in a bright place, standing in a circle. Oddly enough, Hwaryun was standing beside them, wearing clothes he had never seen before. An eyepatch shielded one of her red eyes. The Dream-Hwaryun glanced back at Viole, her visible eye widened when she noticed him. 

She whispered, "Go back, Viole. Not yet, you're not ready yet." Her palm gently pushed Viole out of his dream.

---

Viole startled upright, hurling his sheets over. He was back in his bedroom, the darkness slowly giving way to the dim Lighthouse that flickered in the corner. He stretched his calves out and groaned at the satisfying pull of his muscles; he had fallen asleep in an awkward position and one of his legs was numb.

Through his heavy breathing, he heard a rapping on his bedroom door.

"Are you awake? Come join us for lunch," said Jinsung outside. "You will practice with Hwaryun today."

"Yes, Master."

He groaned as the footsteps outside padded away. Training with Hwaryun always put his mind through the wringer.

Ever since FUG had whisked him and Rachel away from that terrible cave on their home planet (or coerced, whichever way you wanted to look at it), he had been adopted into a strange family of sorts that took care of him so long as he did as he was asked.

Viole rolled out of bed and drew up his trousers. He buttoned up the shirt that Jinsung had purchased for him, slipped on the shoes that Jinsung had also purchased for him, the coat that Jinsung had purchased, and so forth; sometimes Viole wondered if any of the things he owned were truly his.

Sitting on the edge of his bed, Viole practiced the mental exercises that Hwaryun impressed upon him. He closed his eyes and breathed, feeling the blood flowing through his veins, the transportation of Shinsoo coursing through him in a gentle flow, the tides of energy that seemed to draw him up in a warm hug, his tumultuous emotions that still needed to be categorized and sorted after his dreams. They had been growing with intensity, but he had to let them go. He relaxed his mind, feeling the Shinsoo settle into equilibrium, before heading out.

In the dining room, Hwaryun and Jinsung were already seated by the wooden table, Jinsung still chewing on his lollipop to stave off his smoking habit. The room was lit by a Lighthouse made of much more suspendium than the one in his bedroom. The Lighthouse was the size of his palm, floating above the floor and shedding a dim, blue light over their faux wooden table. Four ceramic bowls of lentil stew were set out on thatched placemats.

"Where is mother?" asked Viole.

"Lady Arlene is running late from an advisory meeting with Duke V," admitted Jinsung.

"No matter," said Hwaryun, gesturing Viole to sit. "There is one more week until we arrive at Sin-ui Tab."

"Already?"

Viole pulled out the chair but did not sit, wrinkling his nose at the lentil stew. It was definitely Jinsung's turn to cook today.

"Why were you there last night?" asked Hwaryun. "You were not supposed to be where I could read you."

Viole sat down and poked at his stew. "I was just reading the Paths. You read them once from me and so I copied you."

Hwaryun frowned. "It could be dangerous if you read too much. You are not a Red Witch."

"But it's hardly fair that you know my future and I don't!"

"You, unlike the rest of us, will be able to forge your own Path. Even I cannot read that."

Jinsung nearly dropped his spoon into his stew as he stared at Hwaryun. "What?"

"If he really is our god, he will pass the trial with no struggle."

"But you said before that his Path was tied to FUG and-"

"I lied. I have never been able to read Viole's Path fully." Hwaryun smiled as she sipped on her spoon. "The Elders do not need to know, nor does Lady Arlene."

Suddenly Arlene's absence made far too much sense.

Hwaryun continued, "I thought you would be happy for him, seeing as you only ever wanted freedom for him."

"But freedom at the cost of what?" Jinsung stared worriedly at Viole, who was now picking at his stew reluctantly. "Viole, how are you feeling?" There was fear in Jinsung's voice.

"I'm alright, Master."

Jinsung turned to Hwaryun. "He cannot be the Irregular we were searching for."

"The real Universe is always one step beyond logic," said Hwaryun, smiling. "We will know when he faces the test. The Elders of FUG have been planning this for a long time now."

"And the Red Witches?"

"Have a completely different agenda."

"I'm not hungry anymore," interrupted Viole, setting down his spoon. They always talked about him like this, as if he wasn't there. If he could control his own fate, so they claimed, then his fate was always resting on the edge of disaster. He thought about Rachel being held against her will until he killed one of FUG's targets. He thought about his mother using Rachel to manipulate him, and how he allowed her to.

Hwaryun frowned. "You've been neglecting your training."

"I haven't," said Viole.

She stared him down and spoke suddenly with a force he did not recognize. "Eat your stew."

The command drove into his mind. His arm was already lifting towards the spoon in front of him and it felt like a thousand needles were searing through his head.

Viole hated this, he hated, hated this. But he said he would do this for Rachel, if he did what they asked of him, they would spare Rachel. He felt the sudden spike of anxiety when thinking of her and he immediately stamped it down. I must not fear, he thought, fear is the mind-killer.

He relaxed his mind and let the fear pass over and through him. The Shinsoo around him trembled but eventually went still as he was not about to strike Hwaryun. Eventually Viole felt relaxed enough that he was able to drop his limp arm on his lap, the soup spoon never touched.

Jinsung stared at him oddly this whole time, but said nothing, knowing that this was a skill he cannot teach Viole. Hwaryun nodded with approval. Viole had passed her test.

It was then that the doors opened, and his mother Arlene stepped into the room. She moved with a fluid grace as her gown trailed behind her, her hair tied up formally with a metal flower pin.

Hwaryun and Jinsung both stood and bowed. "Lady Arlene."

"The Reverend Mother will be here this afternoon," Arlene announced. "Viole, you will be ready for her."

Jinsung was about to interrupt again when Arlene shook her head. "She only told me of this an hour ago, we must prepare for her arrival."

Hwaryun sighed. "Have Karaka lower the gates. She must be here to test if he is worthy of becoming the Red Witches' hope too."

---

If Baam were to describe his education, it would boil down to his three tutors.

Jinsung, a rebel who left the House of Ha, trained him in Shinsoo control and hand-to-hand combat. They fought daily and it was only in the last year that Baam was able to keep up with Jinsung, even if it was exhausting work.

His mother, the Lady Arlene, was a Mentat, and advisor to his father, Duke V. She trained him in the skills of a Mentat, who could compute plans in her mind as if she were running the computations of a miniature Lighthouse herself. 

Finally, Hwaryun trained him in the ways of the Red Witches. Hwaryun tended to come and go, following the way of the Red Witches, whose machinations with the Paths of the Tower knew no bounds.

Of the three, the worst was his mother, who never seemed to see him as a person but merely as a means to an end. A weapon crafted for her vengeance. Even Jinsung, whose assassinations were notorious for their efficiency and ruthlessness, and even Hwaryun, whose reading of the Paths should render her emotionally immune to the future, somehow treated him with more warmth than his own mother did.

Viole could not know whether all of his training was enough. His hands trembled as he eyed the guests entering the chamber.

Arlene accompanied Viole to the Rice Pot chamber as their guests arrived. Hwaryun followed discreetly behind.

The Reverend Mother, a Red Witch like Hwaryun, was flanked by an army of Elders as she entered the chamber. She raised a hand to dismiss the Elders, muttering among themselves as they leave the three in the Rice Pot meditation chamber.

"Is he not small for his age, Hwaryun?" the witch asked.

Arlene intervened. "Ignore his stature, he's just starting late, Your Reverence."

"And yet. Urek Mazino was already a force of nature when he went to the Tower. Enryu too. Most of the Irregulars have been."

"Yes, Your Reverence."

"Hwaryun, step forth," the Reverend Mother commanded. "Guard the door, do not let anyone through."

"Is this really necessary?" scoffed Arlene.

Narrowing her eyes in warning, the Reverend Mother added, "Disobey me, Lady Arlene, and the Elders will cast this boy out and have him executed. Teaching him the ways of the Red Witches is unheard of, especially for a boy without any of our ancestry."

Arlene frowned but said nothing. She was calculating a way to kill the Reverend Mother, certainly, but Viole felt that Hwaryun would side with the Red Witches against them. Hwaryun did not let any fear show, but Viole could feel her emotions through the Shinsoo movement. He had grown more sensitive to shifts in it through his training, sometimes sensing the future, a pace or two ahead in certain Paths before they occurred.

A vision tickled his mind. Viole felt a trickle of fear. What he heard were screams, that same eel coiling up inside a tank. Viole blinked and stamped down the visions that were echoes of his morning dreams. This was no time to be having them.

The Reverend Mother also felt his emotions and winced. "What have I taught you?" she asked to Hwaryun.

"I have instructed him as I see best," said Hwaryun.

"Do you truly think he is the one?" asked the Reverend Mother.

Arlene gently tugged Viole towards her and rested her palms on his shoulder, as if claiming him. Viole grimaced in discomfort. "I asked the Outside God for this boy, I am certain he is the one."

Ignoring Arlene, the Reverend Mother asked Hwaryun, "I presume you have seen his Path?"

Hwaryun smiled. "Soo-oh, how would a pitiful witch like me know?"

"Careful," she said, aware that Arlene was still in the same room. "Leave us."

Hwaryun ignored this command and gently touched Viole's shoulder. He was grateful for the kindness. "Viole, you must do as she says. I have passed this test before, and I promise she is true to her word. No harm will come to anyone."

What could he say to that? Viole simply nodded and avoided looking at his mother. Arlene and Hwaryun bowed and left. With Hwaryun glancing behind as she closed the giant doors, Viole stared after the Red Witch, memorizing her familiar face with trepidation for what was to come.

As the doors closed, the Reverend Mother paced across the room, her steps echoing in the large marble hall.

"When I searched for you, I felt pain. I could not see, even with all of the clairvoyance that I possess, what it was that your fate read. The Elders do not know of this," she admitted. "I lied to them."

Viole said nothing, merely tracking her with his eyes.

"Not even a Red Witch," she scoffed. "The last time we trained someone outside of our clan in these ways, Enryu at least had some amount of ancestry from our clan. His mother was a Red Witch. Instead, what we taught him to do led to a sea of blood that has never ceased to flow. But in the end, he did not choose to slay Jahad. He never took vengeance for us."

He knew this, she was trying to aggravate him, to sense any sign of mental weakness. Viole fortified his mind, absorbing all this information, and felt nothing.

"What is it about you? I could not read Enryu's Path either, but he loved his mother, and we thought he would listen to her. You, we cannot control, and yes, I can tell, not even your own mother can control you. Yet it is you who can do what we cannot. A puppet would have been easier to handle."

Viole said nothing.

"Quiet, aren't you? Well."

Suddenly a sharp point was pointed at Viole's throat. "This needle is coated in poison," said the Reverend Mother. "It is designed to kill animals."

"Are you saying I'm an animal?"

"That is up to you to decide."

Then another sharp point was pointed above him, what appeared to be a magenta-blue fish threatening its spear above him.

Control Shinsoo, Viole recognized. "Blue Sapphire Fish," acknowledged the Reverend Mother, "My specialty is to teleport whatever I chose to wherever I choose. I can send you to areas of deep space where you will die a slow, painful death. I can even bury you on Sin-ui Tab where nobody will ever find you again, where Enryu made the skies rain the blood of the Administrator and fill an ever-flowing sea of hell."

"If it's a test of pain, I'd rather take the poison," said Viole. "I've survived worse."

"Of course! You're familiar with poisons, I believe your Master uses them all the time for his assassinations. But I know how to hurt you. If this needle pierces your skin, I will teleport the needle to Hwaryun's neck and she will accept it."

Viole paled. "What do you want?"

"We want the same things, for you to survive this."

Suddenly the entire chamber was swallowed in a denser Shinsoo, and Viole's vision of the tank of water came to life, a giant eel rising out of nothing. He knew that it had to be a vision generated by the Red Witches, but it felt too real, too close for comfort as the eel circled him. Viole froze, even though his eyes were wide as the eel circled above them, evidently recognizing Viole as its next meal.

"Don't worry, this white steel eel is very real. I have teleported it from the 20th Floor."

The eel swerved across the room once again, its wide tail sending another flood of Shinsoo, almost knocking Viole over and into the poisoned needle.

I will not fear, thought Viole. Fear is the mind-killer. Viole recited his lessons with Hwaryun in his mind. He thought of saving Jinsung and Hwaryun from the witch who clearly disapproved of him, he let the thoughts pass through. The eel continued circling above him but he watched passively, watching the gaping maw and the sharp teeth. Viole trusted Hwaryun, he realized, that he would not die even in this very moment where a monster swallowed the monster. He closed his eyes and allowed himself to free his mind.

When he felt that curling tongue wrap completely around him and then let go, he opened his eyes in surprise.

In the far corner of the hall, a girl was tied to a chair.

Viole's eyes widened. Rachel.

She was struggling against the ropes and pleading with Viole through her eyes, her unkempt blonde hair falling over her face.

The Reverend Mother ushered the Shinsoo towards Rachel, guiding the eel to feast on the girl. She glanced back at Viole, her eyes glinting darkly with some slight mirth. He cannot tell if she was feeling righteousness and joy in testing him, but Viole was never the type of person to lose to some trickery.

"This is a test of keeping still. Your task will be to allow the eel to swallow her first, and then you. If you go to save her, you will fail this exam." And then, just to be contrary, she pressed the poisonous needle closer against his throat without piercing the skin. The sapphire blue fish loomed above.

"Save Rachel," commanded the Reverend Mother with the forceful voice again.

It felt like a fist was gripping his mind. Save her, save her, save her. The needles in his mind seemed to pierce deeper, and Viole wanted to scream but did not want to give her the satisfaction.

The eel was swimming nearer to Rachel. The poisonous needle was still against his throat. The sapphire fish swirled around him. The Reverend Mother was staring, perhaps with some surprise at his non-reaction. His breathing was steady and calm.

"Help me, please!" screamed Rachel.

This fact passed through him as the eel clamped over a sobbing, screaming Rachel. She was flailing as one limb was torn off and another went with it. In his mind's eye, Viole winced. His right leg twitched but he reigned it in. His neck and upper body never moved. The sapphire fish loomed threateningly above. The needle was pointed against his neck. Viole had to pass this test. Rachel was just a vision, he reminded himself.

"What kind of a human are you? Save me, please!"

Viole's anxiety spiked, but he calmed it down.

"Monster!"

The blood splattered over his face as Rachel's leg went next. The hip joint protruded from the flesh near her waist.

"No wonder you're all alone, who would care about someone like you?"

That one hurt the most, and Viole couldn't help but feel his eyes water. Then:

"Viole, why won't you help me?!" cried Rachel.

Relief immediately flooded him.

She was no more real than his current name was; the real Rachel would have called him "Baam." His heart beat loudly with unrelenting joy, but he stamped it down. This Rachel was a vision. Let this fact pass through him like Shinsoo. Let this fact pass through him without elation, even as he could sense the relief flooding the corners of his mind. Breathe.

"Save Rachel," commanded the Reverend Mother again, but Viole had moved past that.

If it had been the Baam of five years ago, maybe he would have tried to save her. But this was merely a hallucination, and he was Viole now, he told himself. He trusted Hwaryun. She would never let any harm come to Rachel. He reminded himself of this over and over, even when he grew less certain of this fact. He kept still.

The rest of not-Rachel was now completely consumed by the eel. Viole was now focusing his mental energies to avoid moving his body or even twitching when the eel made its way around and rushed towards him, the blood of not-Rachel still trickling behind the eel in a cloud of red. The Red Witch's voice would not affect him, not even as the eel's gaping maw surrounded him, or the rush of Shinsoo spiraled around him.

Think of something, anything else!

Viole sifted through his memories, and was reminded of a conversation with Jinsung, back in their first year of training, when Jinsung was not so fond of Viole.

He was reminded of his former rage for his Master. They were training underground in a cave, barely lit by a few Lighthouses. The Elders were watching his every move through the Lighthouses while Jinsung attacked him. Viole had not learned how to fortify his body with Shinsoo yet, and he wasn't making enough progress to satisfy FUG.

To encourage him, Jinsung had taken Rachel as hostage, while Viole was beaten down to the ground, bleeding and bruised. Jinsung said he could not afford failure. Become a god, or someone else will. Become the larger monster, Jinsung had implied, or else the even larger monster will swallow you.

"Did you say you want to be strong? I will show you how to become a god," Jinsung had said, just before holding a hand to Rachel's throat.

Viole's sudden rage had blinded him as he landed an attack on Jinsung for the very first time. Even Jinsung was shocked at his sudden change, so much so that he let go of Rachel as Viole's Shinsoo blasted the entirety of the wall down. Jinsung had to shift a wave of Shinsoo just to keep all of them from being buried under the rubble.

At the end of that lesson, Jinsung started treating him differently. He had said, "Rage makes the senses dull," but did not chastise him for his bout of anger. If anything, Jinsung had encouraged his emotions, Arlene forced Viole to clamp them down, while Hwaryun steadied them, allowing them to pass. He had to let the emotions pass through like Shinsoo flowing over him.

He knew rage, he knew it too well. Maybe it was understanding the rage that allowed it to pass.

But right now, he needed Hwaryun's training more than he needed Jinsung's or Arlene's.

Feel towards the nothingness. Breathe. Let the fear pass through him. If the Elders wanted a show, let's give them a show.

The eel's teeth looked so sharp in the dim glow of the Lighthouses.

Feeling calm, Viole closed his eyes as he let the eel swallow him whole.

Chapter Text

Inside of the eel's throat, Viole's instincts clawed at him, telling him to grab the eel's flesh to avoid slipping. But the Reverend Mother had said he could not move, so he kept still, focusing on keeping his breathing even and receding into his memories.

The hollow cavity reminded him of another cave long ago.

His first memory as a child was only darkness. It was a nameless cave on some nameless planet in some star system in some galaxy in the Universe. Despite this, Rachel had burst through from the surface, the rubble falling away to reveal the glow of light above. He did not even know there was such a concept as the sky, let alone whole star systems with planets. Like the nameless cave she found him in, he had no name back then either.

While Viole always welcomed Rachel with open arms, she never did the same in return. She would leave the cave and not bring Viole with her. Each day she would visit and talk to him, teaching him about the outside world, only for the moment the light outside faded away when she'd leave with a smile and a goodbye, but never a promise that she'd return. It felt like when Rachel left, all the warmth and light left with her. But he held out hope each time, and sure enough, Rachel did keep coming back. For what, he didn't know, since he had nothing he could give except for the rags on his back, but he'd like to think Rachel found something in him worth having in her presence.

But the last time she visited, she brought FUG with her, telling the woman he now recognized as Lady Arlene, "I've found him," before FUG took them away. The guards that had been listening to Rachel suddenly grabbed her while she pleaded to leave her alone. Viole had jumped in only for another guard to roughly tie up his wrists as he screamed at them to let him go, only for them to knock him out and for him to wake up in an empty cave again, this time with no Rachel and only FUG.

He hated the darkness after that.

---

The Shinsoo around him quivered in anticipation but still Viole did not move. He could feel the thrashing of the eel and still his Shinsoo barrier held strong and he did not move.

"Escape from here, Viole," commanded the Reverend Mother. "Save yourself."

The voice sounded so compelling. The grip on his mind was back again, but Viole had been trained enough by Hwaryun that he had no fear.

"I don't trust you," said Viole. "But I trust Hwaryun."

And Hwaryun had said nobody would be harmed. So Viole remained still.

After what felt like an eternity, the pain ceased and the needle and fish disappeared.

The Reverend Mother drew out a spindly needle that Viole had never seen before, and pierced through the roof of the eel's mouth, which roared loudly in the pain and the erupting flow of blood. She grabbed Viole suddenly and leapt out of the opened eel's mouth, onto the floor of the chamber, fortifying her legs with Shinsoo before they reached the ground. She sent the eel away with a wave of her hand, to gods know where.

"You have passed," said the Reverend Mother. If she was disappointed, she did not let it show.

All was dimly lit in the chamber again. And a short creature walked out from the darkness, resembling some sort of humanoid rabbit, wielding his baton towards the sky. If Viole could give the rabbit an expression, he'd say it was grinning as it clapped its oddly stubby arms in sarcastic applause.

"Jue Viole Grace," the creature said. "I am not surprised you passed. But that's not what you care about."

"What is it that I care about then?"

The creature gave an unfortunate shrug. "Everyone who climbs the Tower knows, that everything you seek is up there."

Viole's breath hitched. "Wait," he began, but no matter; the creature seemed to disappear into the darkness.

Viole felt something twitch in the Shinsoo of the room, and suddenly, the doors opened to reveal Hwaryun still standing guard outside. She turned around, her facial expression neutral until she noticed Viole still standing, and she smiled.

She entered the room and checked Viole for any sign of injury. If he were being honest, Viole felt exhausted, his mental and emotional boundaries absolutely shredded to bits in that test as he kept his wits about him. Jinsung also entered the room and laid a gentle hand on his shoulder and squeezed.

"You did well, Viole," said his Master, and all Viole could do was nod while he was guided out of the room, his mental shields torn to shreds.

If his mental shields weren't so broken, then maybe he could have prevented the vision threatening to swallow him up.

Not now, not now, he thought as he slipped further into his dream. He felt Jinsung's grabbing his arms to steady him, but the physical sensation was so far beyond reach. It felt like thinking through a fog; his mind never fully emerged from the other side. His head was pounding, but he kept following everyone. Further away, Hwaryun gestured for Viole to follow her to the lounge where Lady Arlene was waiting.

The four of them took their seats on the conference table but Viole's mind was elsewhere.

First, the eyes, the shaded slits of blue within blue. The glint of blue hair in the night.

Next the feeling of passing through time, through some sliver of it where he should and should not be. He's seen this before, he's been here before, no, that's not quite right, Viole thought, but there was only the feeling of dense Shinsoo flowing through him, and then a sudden sharp pain and stiffness coursing through his legs. He cannot move, he's lying horizontal on some surface, he's trapped in something warm.

"Wake up."

Oh, Viole was laying on a bed. But it was not his bed. He had been swallowed by the eel, and the onslaught of pain, electrifying and dizzying, permeated through his limbs. He still felt the presence of the needle, the Reverend Mother, the test of not moving and keeping still when all of his senses are yelling at him to get away. No, that was a real memory.

There was water, so much water. This was an ocean of Shinsoo, and from the surface, a round creature surfaced, just enough to make out smooth, shiny grey skin, and a flower that grew from above its back.

Zygaena, realized Viole, the word alighting itself in his mind.

The scene shifted, and he woke up inside the dream. He was back in the bed that was not his bed. The same blue-eyed boy stared back at him. "Baam, you're finally awake. I thought...I wasn't sure if you would survive the test." The boy had his hands clasped together, elbows on his knees and his forehead on his hands, as if in a prayer.

Viole tried to explain what had happened to him, about the Reverend Mother, the eel, the strange commanding voice, but while he knew there were words flowing out of his mouth, they weren't actual words that Viole could know.

But the other boy was nodding along, as though he understood.

"Strangeness, huh?" chuckled the blue-eyed boy.

Then Viole felt sleepy again and closed his eyes, feeling the frantic shaking of his shoulders. The blue-eyed boy was calling for him.

"No, don't go back to sleep! Wake up, Baam! Please, I need you!"

More shaking, until Jinsung finally snapped Viole out of his trance and he woke up.

Viole blinked and breathed rapidly, the only thing grounding him was Jinsung's hand gripping his elbow. He could hear his master murmuring at him to breathe slowly, and he did so, counting his inhales and exhales. Right, he was just finishing his exam. Inhale. And they were in the presence of the Reverend Mother. Exhale. His mother was toying with her hair, coiling it around a finger. Inhale. Hwaryun crossed her hands over her lap, serene, but Viole could sense her unease. Exhale.

As if Viole's sudden passing out from the vision never occurred, the Reverend Mother began her questioning.

"Hwaryun tells me that you have been dreaming. Tell me-"

"Do you not see that Viole needs rest?" snapped Jinsung, standing up to face her. Hwaryun gently tugged at Jinsung's arm to get him to sit back down, but he pulled his arm away.

"I agree," said Hwaryun. "The dream discussion can wait."

They looked to Viole, who shook his head. "I'm fine, Master. I can talk about them."

Viole was lying, but he knew if he didn't explain now, he would still have to deal with the Reverend Mother later. He did not want to sleep with that on his mind.

"How often do the dreams come?" The Reverend Mother gestured at him to speak. 

"They started out rarely," began Viole, "Perhaps once a month at most. But recently, they grew to become a few times a week, and now nightly."

"What did you dream of just now?"

"I was dreaming about a strange boy. With eyes of blue. No," he corrected himself. "They were blue within blue."

The Reverend Mother's eyes widened. "Curious. This strange boy, you saw him?"

"Or heard him?" asked Lady Arlene. "Sensed his presence?"

Viole thought about this. "Yes, I saw him and felt him." He turned to the Reverend Mother. "I even told him that you came to me and put a stamp of strangeness on me."

The Reverend Mother shot a glance at Lady Arlene, who said nothing. "Tell me, Viole, do you often have dreams of things that happen afterward exactly as you dream of them?"

Viole thought about his visions, the force of them alighting in his mind like the steps of a dancer, just as he needs a critical piece of knowledge. The instinctual way in which he studied Shinsoo. And the vision of the eel before he faced it.

"Yes," Viole admitted. "I dreamed of the white steel eel before."

"And this boy?"

"I have dreamed of him before too."

"Oh, you know him?"

"I will know him," corrected Viole. He doesn't know how he knows this, but he does.

"Tell me more about your visions. Where are you located?"

"Well, we are sometimes in a golden field. Sometimes over an ocean of Shinsoo." Viole frowned. "But this time, I was bedridden, and he was worried for me. It was so strange. He is usually calm and I am the one who is nervous, being in such a bright world. He's asking me to tell me about the Outside. As in Outside of the Tower. The weather is hot and we're waiting for something...for me to go meet some people." Then Viole frowned. "He called me the 25th Baam."

"Not Viole?"

"No. I must have told him my other name." Viole paused. "He asks me to tell him about the waters, the stones, the sky. The sky in the Tower is all made of Shinsoo and thus, only holds false stars. I take his hand. And I say I'll tell him a poem. I tell him the poem but I have to explain some of the words, like what real water and real air feels like, that it's not like Shinsoo but it's something else. The golden field felt artificial too, I had explained to him."

Hwaryun frowned. "The golden field is one of the first tests within the Tower for Regulars."

"Why would I be taking that test? I'm not a Regular."

"Who knows." Hwaryun shrugged and sipped her tea while the Reverend Mother grimaced in annoyance.

"If he is indeed the Slayer, then he should be able to handle swallowing an enormous amount of Shinsoo. Boy, do you know what a Redan is?" asked the Reverend Mother.

Viole perked up at this. "It's like a pill of lightning?"

"Correct, and when swallowed, it temporarily increases your power. Only some sons of a man named Khun Eduan are able to swallow a Redan without passing out immediately. Their direct line of children have eyes of blue, so perhaps you saw one of them. Some of the direct children of the other Houses have swallowed even souls or whole weapons. But if you are indeed the Slayer of lore, then it will not merely be a temporary hour, but for years, not just a small pill of Shinsoo or a single soul but a vast ocean."

Viole frowned. "So you want me to consume Shinsoo."

"Have you ever seen it done?"

He shook his head. "No."

"Eating Shinsoo is dangerous," she said. "But it gives power. You can draw upon more resources within your body. Even more so, we who have been trained in the ways of the Red Witches are gifted an additional insight. You can look down so many Paths of both the future and the past, and yet there is a place where we cannot see." She paused. "Outside of the Tower. Everything is tied to that Tower, damn Jahad. But they say the person who slays Jahad will be able to look where we cannot, into the Paths of all people, even those of Irregulars."

"You want a Slayer for...spying on the rest of the Universe?"

"Yes, the one who can be many places at once. Many have tried to consume Shinsoo...some in the form of a Redan, some in the form of human souls even...so many, but outside a few select members of the 10 Houses, none has succeeded consuming the entire Tower."

"They tried and failed, all of them?"

"Oh no." The Reverend Mother shook her head. "They tried and died."

A shiver went down Baam's back.

"For FUG," began Lady Arlene. "To win the war against Jahad, who is an Irregular and originally entered the Tower from the Outside, we need all of the information that we can get about the future."

The Reverend Mother pondered, "What to do with such infinite knowledge...what indeed..."

"Alright, that's enough. I've done as you've asked, now where is Rachel?" he asked.

Lady Arlene frowned but admitted, "You are not the only Irregular. While you were busy with your examination, we've sent her to the Tower. Rachel has been tasked with helping our suspendium mining operations on Sin-ui Tab."

"What." Viole gritted his teeth.

When they first heard the news about FUG being granted ownership of the planet Sin-ui Tab, FUG was ecstatic. The planet had the most suspendium in all of the Universe, but it was difficult to reach. All members of FUG either came from Sin-ui Tab or were descendants of those who came from it. They were all subject to their respective Paths, a fate by which they were controlled through their relation to King Jahad. Only an Irregular, someone born from someone outside of Sin-ui Tab, would be able to slay Jahad and take over the impenetrable Tower on the planet shielded by the densest Shinsoo in the Universe.

What most people did not know was that Irregulars were special precisely because their Paths were not controlled by King Jahad. But the Universe had many many planets, and many many people. There was bound to be somebody who wasn't tied to Sin-ui Tab's genetics. Hence Rachel and Viole.

When Hwaryun explained this to Viole, he honestly could care less. All that mattered was that Rachel was safe, and he'd do whatever FUG demanded of him if it meant no harm came her way.

"Why do we care so much about suspendium?" he asked Hwaryun once, gesturing at the Lighthouses floating around them.

Hwaryun explained, "They want to mine suspendium deep within the reserves of the Tower and build a fourth Opera Lighthouse. With it, it will be possible to send your Shinsoo field to infinity and see everything with absolute clarity."

"But only three people have them, and only one person knows how to make them."

Then she added, "Do you know of the Opera Lighthouse?" She drew up three fingers. "There are three in the Universe right now, and all of them are being controlled by three people in the Tower. They say the Opera Lighthouse allows you to extend your Shinsoo field to infinity, that there is nothing in the Universe you are unable to see."

At the time, Viole had frowned and said, "I don't need to see anything else, as long as I have Rachel here, that's enough."

Hwaryun had chuckled at his naive honesty. "Perhaps."

But right now, Viole could really use an Opera Lighthouse. He knew he was being used but what else could he do? He had nothing to his name save for FUG, and if Rachel had gone to the Tower, than he would as well. He needed to see with his own eyes that she was safe.

"Don't even think it," scowled Lady Arlene. "You are not going to Sin-ui Tab's Tower. Rachel is going because we can afford risking her, but we cannot afford risking you. You are too powerful to lose."

"That isn't your choice!" Viole slammed his fist into the table, cracking the surface. "You had one piece of leverage over me, just one, and you threw her away!"

Lady Arlene scoffed. "You think she's our only leverage? We've sent her with several agents who will protect her. Make one move against us and I'll have them execute her. And besides," she said, "Do you not trust that Rachel can take care of herself?"

Viole bowed his head and held back his tears. He stood up in silence and walked towards the door, momentarily stumbling only for Jinsung to help him up.

Just behind him, he overheard Hwaryun mutter to Lady Arlene, "That was going too far, even for you."

Jinsung and Hwaryun guided Viole out of the room while his mother smiled serenely after them.

"I trust you'll be alright, my son," said Lady Arlene. "Have faith in Rachel. In the meantime, if you have need of anything, you may call upon me."

Viole ignored her as he slammed the door behind them.