Genetic Ascension

Her bloodline was ordinary, painfully so by the standards of the Demi-God Plane. She wasn't descended from some terrifying Serpentes lineage, hadn't inherited the blood of an ancient monarch, and certainly didn't know of any ancestor connected to something as absurd as a Fate Dragon.

Her mother didn't even know who her father was, just as her grandmother had never known who her mother's father was before that, but Iskaleth didn't consider that some mysterious clue waiting to be uncovered. If anything, it was embarrassing.

More importantly, it proved almost nothing. Her mother had simply been with too many men.

The memories had blurred together until none of them stood out, which was precisely why Iskaleth found it impossible to believe one of those men had secretly been some existence mighty enough to carry an obvious connection to a Fate Dragon.

Even her muddle-headed mother would have remembered someone like that. A man whose bloodline or Karma reached such a level couldn't simply disappear into the same amorphous collection of faces and nights as everyone else.

And if the connection were in Iskaleth's blood, she should have noticed it herself. If she hadn't, Sylas certainly would have.

Her gaze drifted toward Sylas.

He still sat cross-legged in the skies, unmoving, his breathing quiet enough that he almost looked detached from the situation entirely.

Was that how he had already figured this out?

Iskaleth frowned.

It was possible Sylas could sense something about her that she couldn't sense herself. His Profession interacted with Serpentes in ways she still didn't fully understand, and he had already noticed the oddity of her eyes with one glance.

But after several seconds, she shook her head. She had nothing. Even if Sylas did have an answer through those very means, what good was that? He clearly wanted them to figure it out on their own.

Sarethvane's expression darkened at the non-answer.

He was no happier about this than she was, but his frustration came from another direction. Dead Will was what was familiar to him. Dead Will could be studied and compared against what remained once a person's lies and self-perception had fallen away.

Living Will wasn't the same. It was too foggy and obscured. It was hard to grasp and constantly susceptible to deception.

A person could believe themselves brave while every meaningful decision in their life proved otherwise. They could believe themselves loyal, kind, ruthless, humble, whatever they wanted, and Living Will would distort around those beliefs because it was constantly changing with them.

If Iskaleth truly believed her background was meaningless, then her Will would reflect that belief. Parsing the falsehood from the truth while she was still alive?

Sarethvane didn't know how.

The two fell silent... and a quarter hour passed, but they were still no closer to an answer now than they had been before.

They had just eleven more stretches like that before the three-hour timer ran out.

Sarethvane finally drew in a long breath and closed his eyes. When he opened them again, the irritation hadn't disappeared, but some of the wildness had.

"As much as I hate admitting this," he began, "I don't think he's doing this just to be cruel."

Iskaleth's expression twisted but Sarethvane ignored it.

"He's training us."

Her gaze shifted.

"He paired us together for a reason. We've been looking at this like we're two separate people trying to solve the same problem. That's probably wrong."

Iskaleth said nothing.

"We need to figure out what our abilities can do together." Then Sarethvane's expression turned completely serious, a hint of a ruthless light flashing within. "And if none of that works, I'll kill you myself."

Iskaleth froze.

Sarethvane continued as though he hadn't just said something insane.

"Once you're dead, I can read your Dead Will clearly and find whatever secrets are being hidden by your Living Will."

For a heartbeat, Iskaleth simply stared at him. Then rage exploded through her.

"You'll what?"

Sarethvane's coils shifted.

"You heard me."

Iskaleth's Fate churned, anger burning through the fear that had been choking her since Sylas gave them the task.

It was one thing for Sylas to threaten her with death. Sylas could actually do it. But Sarethvane?

Did this coffin-loving lunatic think she was some helpless beast he could casually slaughter because it made his job easier?

Their Wills pressed against one another.

Sarethvane's body tightened, Iskaleth's telekinesis flared, and for several seconds it looked as though the two of them were about to waste what little time they had beating each other half to death.

Sylas never moved. He continued meditating as though he couldn't sense any of it.

And that was when something clicked for Iskaleth.

Her anger stalled as a light bulb went off above her head.

She was the most intelligent of the three Contracts Sylas had taken recently, at least by her own estimation, yet she had spent almost this entire task panicking.

Fear had narrowed her thinking.

She had been so focused on surviving that she fell back into the same habits she had relied on her entire life, habits built around her own Fate and no one else's. Whenever she made a decision, she watched how her Fate reacted.

Every meaningful choice was judged by what happened to her own path. That made sense. She was only ever interested in whether she survived or not. That was why she had always been so cautious in the first place.

She did observe the Fate of others, of course, but usually only on the surface. Looking too deeply carried backlash, especially when the person she was reading had powerful Karma or Will.

But that wasn't the same anymore.

Sylas had Contracted them and the connection made it easier for her to look through Sylas' Fate without suffering the same backlash she normally would.

And if that was true...

Her gaze slowly moved toward Sarethvane.

Wouldn't it also be easier to look through the Fate of everyone else Sylas had Contracted?

Iskaleth's eyes flashed.

Could this be what Sylas wanted her to realize? Was this what he was training her to do on her own?

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