Chapter 47 – Chaos Altar

Rain stares into Bright's eyes, a slightly psychotic smile playing on his lips as his eyes shimmer wildly. Bright looks back at him, her expression blank with confusion for a moment. However, realization soon dawns on her face, right before it turns into a scowl. Her grey eyes begin to look like actual storms, and Rain feels the temperature in the room drop precipitously. Bright's voice echoes in the room, heavily annoyed. 

"You little shit...that wasn't funny..."

Normally, Rain would be scared, but he's spent too many hours fantasizing about the look on her face to not enjoy it. While ice crystals begin to form on his cheeks, he just directs a shit-eating grin back at Bright, his glee completely unbroken. 

"I disagree...you're just not my target audience!"

Bright stares back at him in silence for several moments, conflicting emotions raging within her stern expression. Every moment that passes with that expression fixed on her face, Rain's satisfaction soars closer to euphoric levels. Eventually, she clicks her tongue in disapproval, sliding her hands off his shoulders. 

"Tch...alright, Rain, you've had your petty fun. Since you dared to piss me off this much right away, I'm assuming that you have something delicious prepared for me?"

Sighing deeply at the end of his fun, Rain just gives her an amused smile and nods. He gestures to the plate of pastries behind him, near the tea. 

"Of course, I know the rules...I threw in some extra for you this time. Between that little stunt of mine, and the fact that I'm going to be poking around your soul today, I figured it was only fair. Go ahead...you can tell me...aren't I a considerate date?"

Bright cuts him a withering glare as she slides past him towards the plate of pastries, her voice carrying no hint of amusement. 

"In the broken reality where you're considerate and this is a date, I'm not sure what you think that stunt of yours was."

'Hmm...foreplay?'

Alas, Rain has enjoyed his life of late, so he knows better than to end it prematurely by saying that out loud. 

*****

An hour later, Rain is sitting on the floor across from Bright, an incredibly suspicious glare on his face. 

"You seriously expect me to fall for that twice?"

Bright frowns in disapproval at him, her tone laced with impatience. 

"It's the truth, Rain, I promise. Bringing me into your Soul Temple is different from Relics. You're not just transferring something between souls, you're pulling a part of one soul into another. You need to flow your Ichor directly through my soul in an uninterrupted circuit to do that, and my soul is behind my Mark. Now, quit wasting time.

"We already lost an hour sorting out the details of how we're going to publish that information about the Falling and Nether. Plus, you insist that we have to cut my research time short by half a day, for reasons that you still haven't told me."

Rain narrows his eyes at her. 

"The reason is that I have a hot date, if you must know. Also, you saying that you're telling the truth isn't that convincing. Fool me once versus twice, and all that. You know what, let me have your ring again...we'll get to the truth of this."

She rolls her eyes. 

"A date? Really? An hour ago this was a 'date'."

Rain feels his eye twitch

'She's blatantly ignoring everything else just to insult me...'

A mocking smile finds its way to his face. 

"And an hour ago you said that spending time with me was 'nonsense', but now your time with me is so precious that you're complaining about losing half of it? If you don't want to waste more of it, then...give...me...the ring."

Bright purses her lips thoughtfully, wearing an annoyed expression. After a moment, she sighs and reluctantly offers him her hand. Giving her a smug, victorious smile, he takes her hand and feels the familiar pulse of warmth around his Mark. 

[You have acquired a Relic...]

Without hesitation, Rain summons the familiar black ring onto his finger, then directs a piercing gaze at Bright. 

"Now, my dear friend Bright...do we really have to touch one another's Marks to enter one another's Soul Temples?"

She gives him an even stare, obviously annoyed, but her voice comes out calm and steady. 

"As far as I know...yes."

Rain glances at the ring, waiting for it to heat up, but it never does. 

'Son of a bitch...'

It's now Bright's turn to look smug, as she holds her hand out again, obviously asking for the Relic back. A sullen expression on his face, Rain obliges and feels the heat traveling from his palm. Then, he mumbles at her begrudgingly. 

"Sorry for doubting you...let's get this over with."

*****

Two hours later, Rain is lying on the floor of his Soul Temple, looking up at its ceiling. About an hour ago, he got bored enough to test whether he can summon Relics in his own soul...turns out he can. So now, he has taken to repeatedly tossing the Glorious Pebble at the ceiling and catching it...for the mental stimulation. 

Sighing deeply after catching the pebble, he glances over across the floor at Bright. She's crouched next to the stone table in his soul, her eyes pouring over its surface obsessively. Every twenty minutes or so, she'll ask him to return her to their bodies briefly so she can take notes about the runes from the table and cross reference them with related runes.

Once he figured out that Relics could be summoned in here, he asked her if she had some kind of storage Relic, so she could bring her materials in here and take notes directly. Unfortunately, she said that she did not, because they're exceedingly rare. So, they're stuck with this rather inefficient method. 

As he watches her work, his eyes are drawn to the way the material of her thin, blue dress drapes off her lower back as she's crouched, revealing her generous curves. Just as he's thinking he should look away, a slightly amused voice rings out in the echoing room. 

"For someone too afraid to touch, you sure do like staring Rain."

He sees Bright glancing at him out of the corner of her eye, a smirk at the edges of her mouth, as she continues to study the runes. He immediately looks away in embarrassment, his voice coming out flustered. 

"Ehem...I was just...uhm...staring at the runes. They're fascinating, don't you agree?"

He hears her chuckle melodically. 

"They are, actually. I think I've managed to decipher something relevant about them, too." 

All his embarrassment washes away in an instant, and Rain sits bolt upright on the ground, curiosity invading his voice. 

"Wait, really? What is it?"

Bright turns her gaze fully to him, excitement shining through in her normally stormy eyes, and a pleased smile on her face. 

"Well, I believe I know what the name of this structure is now. Want to take a guess? You know, since you love staring at these fascinating runes so much."

Leaping to his feet enthusiastically and walking towards the beautiful Demigod, he gives her a wry smile. 

"Hmm...is it called, Rain's Company, because you love spending so much time with it? Or perhaps, Bright's Humor, because nobody else knows that it exists?"

Bright gives him a scathing glare, and her voice comes out annoyed.

"In that case, why not Rain's Double, because it's short, plain, and nobody else is ever going to touch it?"

Rain blinks in surprise, staring at Bright in disbelief. 

'Gods...I can't even be mad about that one...that's as hilarious as it is brutal.'

"That's actually...kind of genius...I take back what I said about you lacking a sense of humor. Did you come up with that on the spot just now?"

Bright gives him a puzzled expression. 

"Are you seriously complimenting me after that?"

Rain shrugs and flashes her an amused smile. 

"Why wouldn't I? That was fucking hilarious. Besides, if you thought calling me plain-looking was an insult, you should have heard what prospective families sometimes said about my appearance...being called plain is kind of a confidence boost. As for that last part...well...I have it on good authority that, at this very moment, I and a beautiful woman can't keep our hands off each other."

She stares at him in dumbfounded silence for several seconds. Eventually, she just awkwardly changes the subject with a flat tone. 

"Uhm...okay...well, the actual name of your little table here is...Chaos Altar. Or, Altar of Chaos, it's hard to say for sure...you get the idea, though."

His eyes widen in alarm. 

"Wait...an altar? So, like...an altar to Chaos, my primordial patron? Also, aren't altars used for sacrifices? You realize how alarming that is, right?"

Much to his surprise, Bright casts him a sympathetic look. 

"Yes...but I don't think you should read too much into it...yet. After all, I already told you that it's a lock of some kind, and that these seven larger runes might represent seven keys. When you think about it, whatever those keys are could also be viewed as an offering...it being an altar doesn't mean there will be a literal sacrifice."

Rain feels his anxiety dim slightly as he casts an appreciative look at Bright. 

"That certainly feels like an optimistic take, but...I hope you're right."