EndlessReverie
Chapter 6: Descent and Mysteries
𝚉𝚊𝚒𝚛𝚘𝚗
05/24/2025
A/N: let's talk about our main characters now! time for her first steps in reality. OH YEAH! his lingering future soul won't appear soon, so let's talk about this early life of Alicia
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༻﴾ Synthara Arkfal — Holoris' Gardens ﴿༺
It was evening.
The lights in the capital of Synthara was bright and colourful. The rough noises were deafened by technological devices made with perfection. The streets bloomed with businesses, markets, places of residence, and attractions.
Then, we come to Holoris. The palace of Arkfal, where the family of scientific leaders and biomechanics reside. Down the hallway, we see a small presence.
A quaint and fair child standing quietly against the crystal railings, hands pressed gently to the surface as her eyes travelled the living tapestry below.
The Holoris Garden.
A realm where nature was synthesized into flawlessness. No withering petals. No errant weeds.
Only wonder and perfection.
Alicia Lyn 'Astrali' Synthara giggled, reaching towards a vine that shimmered with luminescent pollen. Her hair glinted with threads of the midnight sky as waves of silver white threads that blend and waved downwards.
Alicia's eyes were also sharp and expressive—icy steel-grey that held the weight of impressions of crystal, cold yet discerning. Shimmering with muted intensity, like starlight seen through frost-covered glass.
Her cheeks touched with the soft red of innocence. She was three years old, and for all appearances, no different than any noble child raised in opulence.
And as she felt petals dancing against the air, brushing against her dress. He called out to the person that's beside her, "Nanny Mirelle!"
She giggled, her voice like tinkling bells. "Why do the silver lilies bloom when I smile at them?"
The young nursemaid chuckled softly. "It's because they like your voice, young miss."
Alicia pouted. "What does that got to do with my voice — and that's not scientific."
Mirelle arched an eyebrow. "And who taught you that, young miss?" she hid her chuckle down her throat.
"Father," Alicia replied with sadness yet tinge of pride. "He said that nature is a system of manipulated constants, not a fairy's dream."
And before she could return her gaze towards the garden, she added her desires. "But I like dreams more, they feel warmer."
At that, Mirelle glanced towards the tapestry. The wonderful view. "What about essence? This world is blooming with wonderful energy."
And before Alicia could respond, soon — soft metallic footsteps approached.
The young nursemaid immediately straightened. "Young Lady."
"I'll take it from here," the tall lady spoke. Then slowly, standing before Alicia. "You're up early."
Alicia turned and her brightens. "Yurieth!"
"It's because I woke up from a dream," Alicia said, tugging at her sleeve playfully. "It felt like something was calling me."
Yurieth's gaze lingered, distant. "Don't chase dreams too much. They rot your focus."
Then, after a beat, she stepped forward and gently fixed a crease in Alicia's dress. "...But I'm glad you're awake."
Alicia blinked, smiling wide yet pouting. "You don't say good mornings properly..!"
"Such trivial thing," Yurieth replied flatly, before turning to leave—but Alicia could see the faintest twitch of amusement at the corner of her lips.
The child's laughter followed her through the corridor until they reached the exit toward the garden. The air changed—lighter, filled with softly circulating essence. The young nursemaid returned to her side.
As she stepped into Holaris' Gardens, Alicia spread her arms and twirled, letting petals spin around her like stars. The sun-filtering dome above flickered in fractal patterns, creating auroras of light that washed across her hair.
And then the nursemaid paused, frowning faintly.
"A-archon?"
It was the first time he appeared before them without a show of alarm nor notice. It was too sudden, but the little one was happy.
"Father!" the little one moved through the cold surface and stopped a few paces in front of her father who later stood.
Lucien Arctheos Synthara stepped into the moonlit balcony, his presence severe enough enough to silence the garden itself. Not a hair out of place. Not even a single essence threading purposely.
"Alicia," he spoke with a neutral tone. "You're outside, late."
"I'm sorry," she softly spoke. Lucien, her father, liked managing time to perfection. Even the slightest hit of imperfection is rightfully corrected even if it doesn't need fixing.
"But I woke up from a dream. Like I was walking through the path of descent and mysteries!"
Lucien stared — expression unchanged. "Dreams are inefficient. I'd rather you dream if it was filtered — more purpose, more meaning. Notify the assistsnt automaton."
Alicia pouted yet not even a lingering sense of offense. "Okay~"
But she paused. "But father... if the dream is important, is it still insufficient?"
Alicia was born into the family that commanded Synthara, the original bloodline that led science to perfect all of Aetheria's essences. The Syntharan Household remains control through genetic modification and enhanced capabilities, though — Alicia has not yet been led through their culture.
Lucien was quiet. Then:
"... Then I guess that means inefficiencies do still have value when they change equation."
Alicia smiled. "That means it's okay to keep dreaming sometimes? Right?~" she pressed on.
He looked at her — not with warmth, not with cold. Just deeply in a sense. For a flicker of a moment, his pale silver eyes softened.
"As long as you wake up."
Then, their moment of father-daughter bonding lingered. One was looking at the garden below with curiosity and the other with calculated judgement.
And though it would've last. There was a ring.
Like stars descending.
A melody.
A whisper.
The small child turned to her father, "Father, do you hear that?"
Lucien glanced. "What do you mean?"
"I hear whispers," she added. "Her voice is like mine."
Lucien was now intently gazing at her. "Alicia, elaborate."
"... It's calling out to me—"
Before she could even finish her sentence, her eyes widened and her body almost fell — save it for her father's concise movements that held her in his arms.
The essence flowing, the threads that lingered — it panicked. A foreign substances has hit them in an anomalous level.
"... Mirelle. Signal the internal stabalizers."
"R-right away, Archon!"
The nursemaid ran as fast as her feet could deliver. Lucien was carrying Alicia like a princess in his arms, walking calculatedly through the cold surface. His expression didn't change — yet in the space of his heatbeats, the heart that he modified, he moved. The threads under his feet pulsed as the essence he had garnered flowed into Alicia, keeping her warm.
As the interiors of Holaris synchronize with the presence before them. Lucien's fingers brushed her cheek—not gently, not warmly, but with surgical precision.
His voice was low. "What did you see…?"
But Alicia was still. And somewhere deeper than thought, her soul had begun to fracture—one fragment setting aside for another.
∗ ⋅◈⋅ ∗
༻﴾ Holoris Surgical & Modification Center ﴿༺
Lucien gently set his daughter down to the surgical table crafted with expertise, system holograms showcasing the attributes and monitoring data of the patient before him.
Lucien spoke coldly. "Activate internal protocol System-H381, clearance Synthera Star."
Responding to the command, a dozen prismatic hexagrams formed above Alicia's chest. The systems chamber that tracked surveillance was reconfigured into full diagnostic mode. A chorus of neutral crystalline tones hummed through the air.
"System-H831, command accepted—"
"InitiatingSoul Integrity Override—"
Lucien then moved the holograms' positions to increase the scope of this operation.
"I want a full integrity scan."
One of the mechanized attendants—a spherical observer drone known as a Vigilus Node—descended.
"Cognitive lattice destabilized. Soul-thread readings: incoherent. Foreign oscillation present—"
"Suggested actions. Essence infusion, essence detachment—"
"Foreign oscillation..?" he sighed before gathering equipment to help stabalize his daugher.
∗ ⋅◈⋅ ∗
In a nearby presence, there was Yurieth.
Alarms blared from garden — where she saw her dear little sister.
Yurieth walked with precision, brushing aside the artifices, system agents, and servants of the family.
She stepped inside the chamber that overlook the Surgical Center.
She approached the podium and switched vocal presentation on. She cleared her throat and began speaking, "Fath- Archon. What happened to Alicia?"
"Silence," Lucien said, not harshly — but with authority and finality.
Extending his hand over Alicia's chest, Essence threads — thin, angular, and precise — unfurled from his palm like threads of golden light, matching with the flowing pattern of Alicia's core. They etched into the air, bypassing traditional biomatic, latching the soul-thread lattice directly.
Meanwhile, Yurieth sat down on a chair. Her face was expressionless yet tinge with fear and concern. She adored her little sister, the bundle of joy and curiosity — even when his father haven't been the same to her as what he treated Alicia.
She just believed her father — a trust in her heart and spirit to save Alicia.
The drone clicked.
"Essence infusion ongoing—"
Then the system blared.
"Archon, your own core signature—"
"Override," he commanded as his biomechanical eye twitched.
He was injecting his own essence.
It wasn't gentle. Lucien didn't know how to be gentle. But the act—deliberate and dangerous—was done with terrifying precision.
A piece of himself, shaped and refined through decades of mental dominion, slipped into his daughter's collapsing weave. It spiraled inside Alicia, trying to intercept the anomalies trying to enter.
Lucien's eyes were slightly wavering.
He called emotions trivial, an imperfection. But he had felt them once more.
Nothing more of his mental dominion, biomechanical modifications, or enhancements could save his heart staggering with fear as his daughter laid with abrupt anomalies.
"... You're my daughter. You cannot change without my will."
The anomalous essence that flowed within Alicia was trapped. It didn't enter her core fully yet a dash had spiraled its way in.
Alicia's heart stabalized and her movements fluttered with silence.
Lucien's arms were against the table, supporting him as he leaned close. He stared at Alicia before telling the droids to set aside and leave him alone with his daughters.
Yurieth above stared. "... So what happened?"
Lucien paused, he has no words. He couldn't figure out what happened. An imperfection. A data that cannot be accurately guessed.
"... A foreign oscillation."
Yurieth's eyes widen.
"... Something was attacking Alicia—"
"No," his voice firm. "It was trying to attach itself to her. Trying to override control."
"Yurieth—" he paused, he didn't want to do this. "—tell your mother. I will have to confine Alicia."
Yurieth's eyes were not stricken. They accepted the command and immediately left the center, leaving only Alicia and Lucien alone.
He stood, withdrawing his hand, essence folding back into his body like a blade returning to its sheath.
"Log this anomaly. Begin soul-thread surveillance protocols. Classify subject as dual-node."
The system acknowledged him.
Lucien walked away, coat trailing like the edge of the evening steel, leaving his daughter beneath a canopy of light and synthesis—stable, breathing, alive.
∗ ⋅◈⋅ ∗
Somewhere deep within Alicia's mind, a second voice stirred, faint and slumbering.
"He knows."
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𝙰𝚎𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚛 𝙲𝚘𝚍𝚎𝚡
Arkfal, the capital of Synthara. Serving as the primary city for technological synthesis, scientific works, and perfection led by the family of Synthara.
Holoris, the citadel of Arkfal. The headquarters of the Synthara Household where the family resides. It's made of biomagic and mechanical engineering to the highest degree, ascertaining decense and purpose.
System-H381, a procedure that overrides a person's soul and synthesizes a new form of threads, leading to biomagic. It was structured in a way to ensure maximum safety for the patient but for the ingoing transmitter, it meant sacrifices of their internal core.
Lucien Arctheos Synthara, the 7th Archon of Synthara. He spearheaded the usage of essence and twisting it with mechanical perfection, biomagic.
Yurieth, the eldest child of the current generation of Synthara.