Chapter 187: Where there’s a will, there’s a way (Bonus 1)
The two young men nodded grimly at Lumin’s words.
The name "Lament Shroud" carried an eerie weight, like a grief given form.
Aeron’s golden eyes flickered with unease. "Why that name?" he asked, fingers tightening around his quill.
Lumin smiled faintly as he replied.
"Because it doesn’t just kill. It wraps its victims in a veil of sorrow and mist, making them relive their worst memories before they even realize they’re trapped." His monocle gleamed as he tilted his head. "You saw what it nearly did to the baron."
A shudder ran through Aeron’s shoulders. They had seen it firsthand, how the creature had twisted the baron’s grief into a weapon against himself. Without Lumin’s intervention...
Zephyr’s silver eyes narrowed slightly. "Putting names aside," he said coolly, "what else do you know?"
Lumin nodded. "Let me see your notes first. No point repeating what you’ve already uncovered."
He leaned forward, scanning their meticulous records:
- Spectral Entity: Incorporeal form, manifests through mist/snow, should be able to move through walls, floors, and other objects.
- Environmental Control: Manipulates blizzard conditions
- Weaknesses: Vulnerable to anti-spectral attacks/objects, dependent on its environment, and the blizzard for power
Their notes also detailed suspicions of the entity controlling the Mistborn and the corrupted, with "currently no way to kill" circled in bold, frantic strokes.
Lumin chuckled dryly.
"You’ve covered the essentials. But thankfully..." His finger tapped the parchment. "I have a few additions."
The two leaned in slightly.
"Firstly, I will expand on the thing you guys pointed out," Lumin began, his voice low and steady, "the Lament Shroud having no true physical body. It’s what I call a Phantom Sovereignty. Think of it as a collective consciousness, a single mind, but one that’s not tied to a single physical form. Instead, it anchors itself to multiple ’vessels’ – like the Mistborn and the corrupted guards you saw. Each of those eyes in the snow, each one we encountered, is merely a small shard of its greater being, a conduit for its will, not its actual self."
He paused, letting the information sink in.
Zephyr’s brow furrowed, processing the implications of a non-corporeal enemy.
Aeron nodded, noting down the important parts.
"This leads to its primary mode of operation: mental consumption. The Lament Shroud doesn’t simply corrupt; it devours. It consumes the aura of its victims while feeding on their thoughts and memories. What’s left will be hollowed husks, empty shells that serve as its eyes and voice, its puppets in the physical world."
Lumin adjusted his monocle, his gaze distant.
"I only pieced this together after treating a few of the affected patients right here in the keep’s town. Perhaps it hasn’t been long since they were corrupted, as only a few moments of their memories were stolen." He paused, a grim line to his lips. "But if given enough time, it’s a terrifyingly efficient way to expand its influence and gather information, without leaving any discernible physical evidence on the body itself."
Zephyr, who had been listening intently, interjected, his voice dropping slightly. "This also means that as it devours more memories and aura, it also grows more powerful and increasingly cunning. It learns. And it adapts." He met Lumin’s gaze, a silent challenge or confirmation passing between them.
"Precisely," Lumin agreed, his eyes serious. "And this understanding of its growth also brings us to another possibility, and a crucial weakness."
"While it primarily uses puppets, I suspect it possesses a possession-type ability as well – the capacity to truly inhabit a body. However, taking full control of a living being would likely require a larger, more concentrated part of its consciousness, perhaps even its core, to be directly present. Though I doubt if it would risk such a move lightly."
"Wait!" Aeron’s eyes widened slightly, the realization dawning. "You mean that the more it spreads itself, the weaker it becomes?"
"That’s right." Lumin nodded, a faint, almost predatory glint entering his eyes, "Overextension is one of its key vulnerabilities. The more minds it controls directly, the more physical bodies it inhabits, the more thinly spread its consciousness becomes."
"Its reactions will slow down. Its overall power might increase due to more conduits, but its control over individual actions and its ability to react swiftly to unforeseen threats significantly diminishes. It’s a trade-off, a balance between overwhelming numbers and centralized, agile control."
Zephyr subtly nodded, his eyes distant as he analyzed the newfound information, fitting the pieces into the intricate puzzle in his mind.
Aeron, however, turned to Lumin with a hesitant but urgent question. "T-then... can we defeat that thing?"
Lumin let the question hang in the air for a long, deliberate moment. The flickering light cast shifting shadows across his face as he finally answered.
"...No."
"No...?" Aeron’s breath hitched, his golden eyes widening slightly.
Lumin waited just long enough for the despair to settle in before continuing. "Not for now, at least."
"Ah—then... is there a way? Can you do it?" Aeron pressed, his fingers tightening around the edge of the table.
Lumin shook his head again, and Aeron’s shoulders tensed in quiet frustration.
"However, there’s a saying," Lumin said, raising his index finger. "As long as there is a will, there will always be a way. So, if we keep thinking and learning, we will definitely find one. As for me," he added, with a self-deprecating shrug, "I’m just a healer. My combat prowess isn’t strong."
Aeron exhaled, his expression flickering with realization. "Ah... sorry for my presumption."
Lumin waved a hand dismissively. "No need. But while I can’t participate in direct combat - and neither should you, since you’re still unawakened - we can still contribute from the backlines."
He gestured to the notes spread across the table.
"Planning, healing, or whatever else we’re good at. And besides..." His gaze flicked toward the window, where the storm still raged beyond the obsidian barriers. "It’s still not certain if we’ll even have to fight. Our enemy is a spectral one, after all. It may yet dissipate with the blizzard."
Aeron nodded slowly, though the tension in his frame didn’t entirely ease.
Zephyr, who had been silent throughout the exchange, finally spoke, his voice low and measured. "Then for now, we prepare. We observe. And we wait."
Lumin inclined his head in agreement. "Exactly."
The three of them fell into a contemplative silence, the weight of their enemy’s nature settling over them like the storm outside.