Dimensional Descent

Aina sat in silent meditation, her aura in perfect balance. She took deep breaths, controlling her inhale and exhale in cycles that lasted sometimes up to several minutes.

Suddenly, she opened her eyes just as there was a light knock to her and Leonel's room.

"Yes, you can enter."

Savahn came in with a worried expression on her face, one that actually caused Aina to laugh slightly.

"What is it?"

Savahn was speechless. "Why are you laughing, this is serious."

"I don't know, this is just the first time in a while I've seen anything but a smile on your face, I found it interesting."

Savahn blushed, seemingly understanding what Aina was getting at. But then she remembered that she wasn't entirely without ammo in this conversation.

"You're one to talk, I can still smell it in the air."

Aina suddenly panicked. "Smell? What smell?!"

Aina's head snapped around before she froze. This time, it was her turn to blush. There was no smell, clearly Savahn was just making fun of her and had won this round.

was very used to Aina's shyness and she used to have all sorts of fun making fun of her. After the Metamorphosis, she had thought that maybe all their previous interactions had all been an act, but by now, she knew that it wasn't that the Aina she had known was fake, it was only

coughed slightly, trying to

Look at you making fun of me, I'm

as innocent

Savahn graciously took her victory and remembered that she had indeed come for

to the news... Hutch has

the man personally. Even so, it was impossible for her not to feel anything simply

he had left, Leonel had known that this was a distinct possibility. No parent wanted to end their child's life, and there was definitely no grandparent who wanted their grandchild's life. However, Hutch had been unlucky in two ways, he had not only outlived his children, but he was faced with trouble of standing in opposition to his

impossible for him to survive both, so even without being there, Leonel knew that Hutch would choose to die rather than make such a voice. It didn't matter to him that Leonel had warned him, it didn't matter to him that

era had passed him by. Despite his talent, he never really felt the same passion he had in his youth, and

his choice or not, Aina knew that Leonel

should we do?"

deep breath and exhaled. "Nothing. Now isn't the

with the capital being

She couldn't repeat what Leonel had said before he left. Her thoughts flashed and she remembered that annoying

too much. This was an existential

course, Aina knew the real Leonel. More likely than not, it was something that he was too lazy to explain. If he could stop the unnecessary deaths, he would, but he wasn't some sort of God. There

likely the same thing tying down the four Great Families. It didn't make sense if only one

deal with everything, he would have. As such, there was a certain delicate approach that

nodded. She turned to leave but hesitated