The answer to my question was simple and effective.
I was going to lie. Again.
"Ah, if I am being completely honest with you, I don't even know what an Omphalos is." A small, awkward and utterly forced chuckle left my lips after I had spoken. A sheepish little smile grew on my lips as I looked down and away from her in embarrassment.
Almost at the same time, the System sprung to life with a new notification.
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|| [New Aspect Unlocked!] ||
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|| [Aspect]: [Silver Tongue] ||
|| [Level 7]: [Progression: 53%] ||
|| [Omphalos Designation]: [Passive] ||
|| [Description]: [You have told many lies in your life, so much so, that you could be considered a veteran of misdirection and deceit. Your ability to tell lies and persuade others receives a [+7%] increase, raising the chances of others believing in you] ||
|| [Note]: [This Aspect scales directly with your [CHA] stat] ||
[-][===][-]
'Perfect timing, System. I need all the help that I can get here.' I thought, lifting my head and giving Veya a sheepish, embarrassed look. I even went so far as to rub the back of my head.
"Wow," Veya muttered, looking at me with wide eyes. "That was your laziest attempt at trying to tell me a lie, yet."
There was silence for a single, lingering, second.
Then, the heat which had steadily begun to build beneath my skin, flushed into reality. The air twisted, distorted, and physically snapped, around me. It was intense and sudden, and it had Veya taking a desperate step away from me.
"Wait!" She screamed, as the heat, under my command, wavered and became a brilliant conflagration of fire. It crackled and twisted around my body. It felt almost alive, as it wrapped around me like a cloak.
"Wait! I don't mean you any harm!" Veya fell to her knees, prostrating herself before me. The arrogant fire she had been slowly gaining back, vanished again, as I looked down upon her with not an ounce of emotion on my face.
The fire around me burnt brighter at the action, a flickering storm of orange that licked at my skin with tongues of warmth. My hold over the fire was steadfast, yet they flared at their own violation, as if they had a mind of their own.
It felt as if the fire was slowly becoming alive, as if it were gaining a semblance of sentience, all in a desire to protect me.
Because the way it moved over me, the way it held me, make no mistake, that was not in my control, the fire was doing that on its own.
It was a slightly…terrifying thought.
I banished the fire, and felt my body cool almost instantly, as curling wisps of flame bent in the air like serpents and tried to reach me one final time.
It would be something I'd have to investigate at a later date.
For now, I had more pressing matters to attend to.
"You said that was my worst attempt yet. So, what else have I lied about?" My voice was calm, not cold, but sharp. I wasn't really asking, as much as I was commanding the truth from her.
I wasn't blind to the irony.
"Y-Your name! And-and that you…" She stopped to take a breath, her entire body shaking. "…that you have am-amnesia."
I rose an eyebrow at her answers, not that she could see it. Either way, it was interesting, because just how did she know? And so surely too. I know I wasn't a bad liar, as the System had mentioned earlier, I had spent most of my first life being a liar, I had perfected the art of lying.
Really, either she was a detective in some past life and had retained her skills, or, the more believable option, she wasn't just some lowly Mercury huntress. If her earlier reaction to my words was anything to go by, she might not be a Mercury at all.
"You're a Risen." It wasn't a question, and I didn't bother making it sound like one.
After I had unleashed my earlier firestorm, and Veya had survived, I had already begun to be suspicious of her nature, and after everything she had explained to me, it seemed like the most logical answer.
Slowly, the downed huntress nodded her head.
I knew it.
"Tell me the truth. Who are you really? What are your abilities? Why are you here?" If this had happened in my first life, I would have no right to ask such questions, but in this new, changed world, it was different.
Strength was the highest virtue. It was the universal truth, and the reason why Veya was currently prostrated before me. Might, equalled right, and right now, in this moment, I was the one who held all the strength.
In my past life, she would have had the moral high ground—due to my lies and attempts to deceive her—but in this twisted, unorthodox life I had been displaced within, it was me with the moral high ground.
I knew it was wrong of me, to adapt so quickly and utilise such twisted morals for my own gain, especially since I had told myself I would try and change as a person. But I wasn't a saint, not in this life or the last.
I wanted answers, I wanted safety, I wanted to live.
If that meant I had to adapt to these new morals, then I would. If that meant I had to use my innate cruelty, then I would. If that meant I had to temporarily become a part of the system and wear the skin and mind of a high born, then I would.
Because, at the end of the day, there was no living soul who cared for me, or about me.
In the end, I had only myself. Through life, through death, through even the afterlife. It had only been me, and it would remain so even now. I knew that as an undeniable fact, as a truth that was as certain as the stars collapsing and dying one day.
Veya lifted her head from the ground, just enough to reveal her striking grey eyes, and spoke.
"My name…is Aletheia Fe Nýchta. I am the daughter of Veya Hg Delta, the daughter of Klaus Fe Nýchta, and this generations holder of the Bloodline of Night Shroud."