Chapter 19: The Sovereign Darkness
Felicitas is a striking figure, her appearance as enigmatic as it is captivating. Her skin is a flawless, radiant tone, and her large, almond-shaped eyes are an intense, piercing shade of green that seem to shimmer with a hidden depth. Her face is adorned with the intricate and haunting patterns of a sugar skull, the dark designs in stark contrast against her pale complexion. She wears her hair long and flowing, with streaks of vivid purple that cascade down her back. Her clothing is a mix of playful and alluring, with an orange floral top that reveals her toned midriff and a pair of short, distressed denim shorts that accentuate her long, sculpted legs. There’s an ethereal quality to her, a blend of beauty and mystery that draws the eye and keeps it entranced.
Felicitas, her form radiating a spectral beauty, stood at the entrance of the trials, her piercing green eyes narrowing in determination. She could feel the weight of her comrades’ journeys upon her, but unlike them, she had something more personal driving her—Chalice. Her thoughts were sharp and focused.
Each trial was a testament to the will of the Chaos Queen, but Felicitas had no loyalty to that entity. Her loyalty lay solely with Chalice. She began her journey with a quiet confidence, her green eyes narrowing as she approached the first trial—the Negation Maze. The path twisted and turned in ways that defied logic, attempting to erase her very presence. “This place... it thinks it can erase me? No. I am more than just a part of this world. I am the queen of my own existence,” she thought, her voice in her mind steady and unwavering. As the maze twisted around her, Felicitas whispered to the very fabric of reality, “You will bend to my will, or you will cease to exist.” The maze complied, the paths aligning themselves before her like a well-trained servant.
Felicitas had mastered the art of SuggsLogic; she danced through the maze as though it were a simple game, her every step leaving a trail of phantom light in her wake.
Moving to the second trial, the infinite spiral of paradoxes loomed before her. The second trial echoed the paradoxes faced by Palisa. Felicitas confronted an infinite spiral of realities, each more absurd and contradictory than the last. She could feel the absurdity of it all—the contradictions, the impossibilities. Yet, for her, these were mere illusions. “Palisa faced this and conquered it. But I am not Palisa. I am Felicitas, and I walk a different path,” she murmured to herself, her voice carrying through the paradoxes like a knife cutting through fog. She didn’t just navigate the spiral; she commanded it to unravel, and it did so with a shudder.
She whispered to the fabric of reality, bending it to her will until each paradox unraveled at her feet. There was no hesitation, no doubt—only an unwavering drive to push forward.
As she delved deeper, the third trial mirrored Anabeth's confrontation with the evolving Fractures. Here, the crystalline doppelgängers rose against her, their forms reflecting infinite possibilities of failure. Felicitas’s eyes gleamed with determination. “Fractures... twisted reflections. But reflections can be shattered,” Felicitas thought with a wry smile. She raised her hand, summoning the power of SuggsBursts. “Shatter,” she commanded, channeling energy so potent it fragmented the Fractures into mere shards of nothingness, their boundless impossibilities reduced to dust.
The crystalline labyrinth of the fourth trial was nothing to her. The crystalline labyrinth was where endless pathways sought to trap and confuse. Felicitas, however, was not to be outdone. She touched the walls, her fingers trailing light. “Hellstya would have torn this place apart... but I’ll do it with grace,” she thought, her SuggsLogic transforming the labyrinth into pathways of her design. She walked through with ease, her confidence growing with each step. With a flick of her wrist, she tore through the labyrinth’s challenges, emerging victorious on the other side.
But it was the fifth trial that truly tested her. The void beyond voids, the ultimate silence, tried to strip her of everything—her identity, her powers, her very will to exist. But Felicitas was not merely a pawn in this game. “Zazallia faced this... and she stood tall. But I am Felicitas. I am not just a pawn. I am the queen, Chalice’s queen,” she declared to the emptiness. Her thoughts cut through the void, each one a blade of pure defiance. She reasserted her existence, bending the emptiness to her will, shaping it into something more—an affirmation of her power and her place in the cosmos.
But as she thought the trials were over, she felt a cold emptiness wash over her. Felicitas found herself dissolving into the background of creation, her form unraveling in the face of pure, absolute nothingness. The ultimate silence enveloped her. This was the silence beyond transfictional nothingness—a place where even thoughts ceased, where existence itself was a paradox. She felt herself dissolving, returning to the silence beyond transfictional nothingness. For a moment, all was still. Yet, even here, Felicitas clung to the memory of Chalice. Her love for him was not something that could be negated or erased.
“Is this it?” she thought, her mind floating in the perfect stillness. “No... it cannot end like this.”
In the depths of this perfect stillness, a presence emerged—a crystalline darkness, darker than black yet shining brighter than light. It was the true sovereign of all narratives, the author beyond all authors, the end-all be-all of creation and destruction. It was absolute, perfect, and undefinable, knowing everything and possessing authority over every narrative plane. It was the ultimate trial.
Felicitas stood before it, her SuggsLogic flaring with an intensity that defied comprehension. She did not bow. “I see you... and I will not be afraid,” she thought, her voice echoing through the silence. “You think you can judge me? You think you can end me? I am Felicitas, and I will not be erased.” She summoned every ounce of her SuggsLogic, forcing the darkness to its knees. She spoke not in words but in the pure language of existence, commanding it to recognize her sovereignty. The darkness hesitated, then yielded, acknowledging her as its equal, if not its superior. Felicitas had done the impossible—she had bent the absolute to her will.
In that moment, she heard a voice—familiar, comforting.
“Felicitas...”
Chalice’s voice cut through the darkness, and suddenly, she was in his arms, the void fading away. He had reached into the void, pulling her back from the brink. She looked up at him, her heart swelling with emotions she had tried to keep buried. “You came for me...” she whispered, her voice trembling.
“Always,” Chalice replied, his voice soft yet firm. “You’re never alone, Felicitas. I’ll always be here for you.”
She clung to him, the reality of his presence grounding her after the trials she had faced. As they walked back to their base, a sense of calm settled over her.
As they walked back to their base, the tension between them was palpable. Chalice's gaze lingered on her, and she felt a warmth spread through her being. Yet, she knew there was one final trial she must face—alone. “Chalice,” she began, her tone lightening as they walked. “You know... I could have handled that final trial on my own.”
“I know,” he said with a smirk. “But I couldn’t resist. You’re too important to me.”
Felicitas felt a warmth spread through her. “Important, huh? More than just a queen?”
“Much more,” Chalice replied, his gaze locking onto hers.
As they approached the base, the Chaos Queen’s telepathic message reached them—the location of the next unwritten manuscript had been revealed. But for now, Felicitas allowed herself a moment of peace, for Felicitas, the greatest victory was not the trials she had faced, but the knowledge that she would always have a place by Chalice's side.