"Risen? Wow, you really have forgotten everything." I rolled my eyes at Veya's snide comment. A part of me was tempted to show her my flames again, but I reframed.
I'm trying to change as a person.
Not that Veya was helping.
"Just answer the question." I told her, taking an extra-long step to get in front of her.
I could feel her eyes burning into the back of my head and watched with no small amount of amusement as she limped a little harder just to overtake me. I could practically hear her teeth grinding together.
I knew that I was trying to change as a person, but I wasn't perfect, nor did I try and kid myself into believing such a change would happen instantaneously. That, and subtly messing with Veya was a great source of enjoyment.
"Tch, bastard," She grumbled, meeting my eyes and noting the small quirk of my lips. "As for your question…" A large sigh left her lips, and she slowed down a step as I did on our walk.
"…Risen are the most important people in the world. The First Generation were blessed by the Celestial Spirits, and from them, the Second Generation was born. Though, not in the same was as before the Collapse." I raised a silent brow at her heavy tone.
"There's two ways to become a Risen. Either you're born as one, or you're made into one. There's no in-between, well, except for a Celestial Spirit personally blessing someone." Veya explained as a hiss of pain left her.
"How do you make a Risen?" I asked, not paying any attention to the sound. She had made plenty of similar noises as we went through our journey,
"According to the old bastards of the Clan, that's the fun part." Veya muttered, looking through the forest. "You take a Mercury, and you destroy their heart, pushing Sacral Essence into their body at the same moment."
It was only due to [Omphalos Mind] that I didn't feel or show any shock or surprise.
Unfortunately, my lack of reaction was also noticed by Veya, who looked at me with a strange gleam in her eyes.
I tried to keep the conversation flowing. "Calling them Risen seems like an…apt name." I muttered lamely.
'Great job me.'
"Yeah, a little too on the nose for me, but..." Veya shrugged her shoulders, as if to say, 'what can you do', before continuing. "It's even worse for the babies."
"I feel like I'm going to regret asking this, but how exactly is it worse?"
She snorted at me. "They're alive for nine months, then come out from the womb dead. Only way to save them is to inject them with Sacral Essence, otherwise you can say bye, bye to the baby."
"Somehow you made it worse than what I was initially thinking." I grimaced, not bothering to hide my sympathy.
"Oh, tell me about it. When I learnt about it as a kid, I nearly threw up." She grinned, baring her teeth. "You have a strong stomach."
'Subtlety, thy name is not Veya.' I thought, seeing the casual attempt she tried to make at gathering information. 'My earlier lack of reaction must have been a little too out there, even for this changed world.'
I shrugged casually, as if I hadn't noticed what she was attempting to do. "It's probably because I already know about it, at least, on a subconscious level."
She hummed, and didn't comment further, so I carried the conversation forward.
"From what you said earlier, I'm guessing only Mercury's are made into Risen?" Veya nodded, turning her head slightly to look at me.
"Yeah, the whole baby thing is limited to all the Houses. The Clans are the only ones who get subjected to the Purging Ceremony."
"And that is…?"
She sighed at my leading question. "It's a yearly traditional, happens twice a year. Once on the Summer Solstice, and once during the Winter Solstice. The Mercuries who come of age and don't bring enough to the Clan, are chosen by the Archons to become Risen."
'Archons? The ancient Greek word for ruler?' Another mystery for another time I decided.
"What happens to them after that?" I asked aloud, shelving the thought to the side for now.
"They get sent off to the front lines." She answered with a shrug, only to sigh again when I looked at her with visible confusion. "Death Zones. They get sent off to Death Zones that are infected with Fallen Spawn and become part of the force fighting against them."
I blinked. "Fallen Spawn? Like the Leshy, you mean, right?"
She gave me a suspicious glance, before slowly nodding.
"Yes, like the Leshen. Why, does it sound familiar?"
"A little." I hummed, lying through my teeth. "I remember something about corruption, and Axion Cores? Though, I have no idea what they are or what it means."
"Huh, yeah, those are all actually terms that are connected together." She blinked, as if she was surprised. "As for what they are, well, Dievas above that's hard to describe."
"Take your time?" I offered weakly, only to receive a glare in return.
"I guess, the best place to start would be with the Axion Cores." She told me, pulling a strand of hair behind her ear. "There are seven of them in a Risen's body, and thirteen in any Fallen Spawns. Though, they both start with only one."
'A lucky number, and an unlucky number. Is this nature's way of making comedy?' I silently wondered.
"From what I know, they both progress through their Ascension—or Descension in the case of Fallen Spawn—the same way. The more they kill, the stronger they become." She pursed her lips in thought. "Once they reach the required amount, a new Axion Core is created, and then the process repeats itself."
"Huh, that sounds simple enough."
"Yeah, you'd think so, but no, it isn't." She grinned again. "Their Axion Cores absorb the Sacral Essence—the energy produced by the Axion Cores—from those they kill, but they only receive the same amount as the number of Axion Cores in the body of the one they killed."
"Ah, I understand it now. If you killed a Fallen Spawn with two Axion Cores in its body, then you'd only receive two points, so to speak, and so on, and so forth, right?" I asked, remembering the stories I had read which held a similar type of system.
"Look at that, you're learning." She cooed in a mocking tone.
"I'm remembering, shut up." I told her, rolling my eyes. She only smirked at my biting tone.
"But yeah, that's pretty much it…" She paused suddenly, blinking, before turning to look at me with furrowed brows. "Actually, shouldn't you already know this? With your Ethos being some sort of fire control, I'd expect you to have already entered your Omphalos and seen all of this by now."
"My Omphalos…?" Similarly, I blinked, as a different sort of revelation went through my mind.
'Oh, oh this all makes so much sense now.'
I nearly slapped my own forehead as the realization settled over me. Nearly, being the key word. Instead, I came to a sudden stop, as my mind began to process and make connections between all I had learnt so far.
"Well?" Veya asked, standing beside me and tapping her remaining good foot, her eyes were settled into a small glare as she looked at me.
'Ah, I guess this takes priority. How am I going to get out of this then?'