Whoever said fabric only remembers touch lied because clearly, mine remembers blood too.
Things began four nights after Wei Han's curse failed. I had sealed the thread I used to counter attack and stabilize my space, or so I thought. My studio was way too quiet, and I didn't like it.
I couldn't handle the atmosphere in my studio and decided to go into my space. I was standing on my work table barefoot, holding a thread box, ready to start Lu Jinghao's commission. He needed a ceremonial collection for his upcoming event.
The floor suddenly rippled in an energetic manner. It was so energetic that I felt like something was breathing through my bones. By now I had learned that these kinds of strange occurrences meant nothing good.
I felt my nerves tighten as I prepared myself for anything that was to come.
'Host there is energy distortion detected, but the trigger or source is unknown.'
"Could it be Wei Han again?"
'Not really host. This one has a different frequently...it is older and deeper.'
By now, I had an understanding that the words older and deeper rarely meant anything good.
The golden light around my working table suddenly dimmed, condensing into a single line on the floor.
Slowly but steadily, it curved, forming an intricate shape. Before it took its full form, I knelt beside it and that's when my mother's scent hit me. It carried an old smell of ink soaked paper and some rustic metal. My heart faltered because this smell didn't belong to the present.
"Mom..." I whispered as my hands trembled to reach forward and the moment my fingers brushed the unfinished shape, the space shifted, as the walls dissolved into nothing but shadow and light.
I was standing inside another studio or workshop, whichever.
The air around me smelled heavily of incense and old silk. There were ornate holders with candles burning brightly, as high quality mannequins stood wrapped in high quality gowns.
And there, by the work table was a woman with my face, but older. My mother.
She worked in perfect silence, drawing patterns I couldn't quite make. Each thread she wove in pulsed faintly but I understood. That was how she would weave fate.
"M...mom?" It didn't matter how many times I saw her, each time the same emotion of vulnerability seeped through my calls.
She didn't look up but her hands moved faster, in an inhumane manner, as the candles started flickering violently.
Her voice finally came out but it was unbearably distant I couldn't help but frown.
"Xiao Rui, don't let them trick you into opening the second door."
I tried to reach her but a force threw me off. I re appeared back into my space, my chest heaving as my palms burned faintly with the half mark.
Nova's voice echoed in the air but I couldn't quite understand what he was telling me.
'Are you okay host?'
"I'm fine." My voice came out raspy, as I tried finding out a suitable reason for this occurrence.
'Your heart rate is above the perfect rate and here you are lying host. Anyway, that seal contained maternal residue.'
"Maternal residue?"
'The encryption code perfectly connected to...'
"Connected to what Nova?"
'Connected to me host.'
My breath caught at his words.
'My code is part of what the guild used. Your mother was part of the guild, she created the code and half the reason we are experiencing these occurrences is because the code is me and the code they operate with are similar, created by the same person.'
'She fused technology with soulcraft. The guild had a crazy obsession with controlling destiny through fabric, causing your mother to rebel and fracturing their data core in the process, but not everything was wiped out. That is why they are trying so hard to connect with you.'
'She sealed her part of the knowledge in this dimensional space that you have inherited.'
This information was so much that I had to press my forehead for relief.
"So you are like 2% of the guild?"
'...yes.'
For the first time, Nova's voice wavered. There was no sarcasm or even his usual confidence...he sounded so fragile.
"Nova..." I asked softly. "Are you scared?"
"Perhaps...I don't want to be deleted or... tampered with...again."
My chest tightened. He sounded so fragile and so wounded. I have never heard him this way, for a second, it felt like he was a human being.
"I won't let anyone delete you or tamper with you. I promise."
'Promises can be unreliable sometimes host but...thank you. I appreciate you.'
Morning came. So grey and silent. I barely slept because every time I closed my eyes, I saw weird visions, weird and horrifying that I feared shutting my eyes.
Throughout the day, I kept on trying to focus, while making Lu Jinghao's ceremonial coat. But as I was in the middle of my work, I noticed that my hands kept on tracing unfamiliar patterns on instinct. It was as if that is what they should be doing.
'That is a replica of the guild's geometry.'
"Huh?"
'The patterns you are drawing are part of the guild's control patterns. They used them to manipulate people they could harvest heavily from.'
I exhaled shakily. "These people were vicious. What about my mother?"
'Your mother sabotaged their final piece and you ended up inheriting the space, inheriting me, and whatever is behind the second door.'
The word second door made me feel like hundreds of ants were crawling up my skin.
"Nova... assuming the second door opens, what will happen?"
Silence.
Nova's silence carried a sense of dread I didn't want to dig into.
I wanted to open the second door and deal with whatever was behind it, I wanted the guild to fully reawaken so that I could slash them down for good.
As if Lu Jinghao could sense my situation, the man called me shorty after.
"Hey...are you okay?" His voice came out soft and assuring.
"Hmm. I am...okay...You?"
"Equally good." His voice softened even more."I just felt like calling. There are a lot of talks out here today..."
He wasn't entirely wrong. There were a lot of rumours after Wei Han's situation. Some claimed I used enchanted fabrics, with some calling me Phantom Reborn. They weren't wrong, they just didn't need to know.
"By the way, your bodyguards are roaming around me too much."
Lu Jinghao didn't even bother to deny it. "I made sure they were discreet. Got them just in case."
When he finally hung up, Nova's tone rose up a few degrees.
'Host, there seem to be external forces at work...there is something unusual around the Jiang fashion house.'
I stiffened. "Why do I feel like this is related to the second door?"
'Although Wei Han failed, that curse seemed to have triggered the second door. Almost as if the guild is slowly awakening.'
Nova's words made my blood boil. It was either the guild or the second door and somehow, those two were firmly connected.
"Nova?"
'Yes host?'
"Now that the guild is somehow awakening, I have no reason to not open that door. Might as well as deal with things right now."
'But host... your mother...'
I didn't listen to Nova and immediately appeared in my space.
As I walked through the studio, heading towards the second door, I felt the hunger in the space.
The more I looked at the second door, the more I felt it scream. I felt how it had tormented my dreams, clawing through until I could no longer hold in my curiosity, and that frightened me, but it didn't stop me.
As I finally stood before it, I couldn't keep my hand from hovering inches away from it, the thick air blurring my vision in the process.
It didn't have any funny stitches or symbols belonging to the guild, no sigils, just a single indentation in the center, where a palm print was supposed to go.
My palm print.
I swallowed hard. "Say something Nova. Anything..." I whispered.
Nova didn't answer immediately and his silence hit harder than any warning he had given me.
Finally, his soft and defeated voice echoed in my mind.
'What more can I say host? You are already here.'
He wasn't reassuring me. He was tired of my stubbornness.
We both knew that I was long gone to listen. The guild knew my mother's temperament, naturally, the second door knows me, probably more than I know myself.
My mother's face suddenly came to mind, her voice echoing in my mind.
"Remember Rui. No matter how curious you are, no matter how much the past calls your name, do not open the second door darling."
My mother had warned me countless times. What she didn't know was that someone would try cursing me and accidentally create a crack, letting the guild anticipate its full awakening.
'We can find ways to deal with the guild without opening this door Rui.'
"That will be partially Nova. I want to crush their core, given them zero chances of ever making a comeback."
"I am going to open this door Nova."
The door suddenly hummed softly and affectionately, as if telling me it was ready.
'The guild will remember you if you do host.'
"Remember me as?" A chill ran down my spine but I asked anyway.
'As its sole heir.'
I laughed, clearly not thinking the guild will find me that important, but Nova didn't. He didn't laugh together with me.
The seriousness made my smile stiffen as my memory suddenly ran back to my father's cold eyes, my stepmother's poisonous personality and my sister's obsessive behavior, always wanting to reach out for anything that is mine. I remembered how everyone around me took me as an easier tool to control. I never had the right to choose things for myself and now the guild also wants to choose for me and control me?
I didn't ask for any of this!
I closed my eyes and for a moment, I wanted my mother back with me. I let myself feel everything I had been holding back, from the endless battles to the exhaustion, and to the loneliness.
Without warning, the door's surface suddenly changed and it became a portal like mirror, showing memories.
My mother stood in a lit hall, her blood flowing out of her palms as she pressed them to the floor. She looked so young, innocent, fierce, terrified, but determined at the same time.
"I want it to end with me. No one should carry it ahead."
"Mother..." I said hoarsely.
'Lin Yue failed.'
Nova's words cut deep, causing my eyes to burn with both fury and grief.
"She didn't fail Nova. She was protecting me."
In my words, I felt a sharp tug threading me to people I wanted to deal with. People I wish I had no relation to but I couldn't escape our connection.
I saw Jiang Ning kneeling on her bedroom floor, whispering my name like a curse she wanted to get rid of.
My stepmother was standing before a mirror, her reflection behaving differently from her.
I saw my father pacing around the office, talking to someone on the phone, his face filled with fear.
The Guild wanted to use them. It wanted to use their resentment, greed and envy against me.
This explained why there were suspicious activities in the Jiang fashion house.
"No. I won't let the guild touch me through them."
The door vibrated as if mocking me.
In just seconds, the pressure around me intensified, with threads seeping from below the door, wanting to wrap around my legs.
That was power. Old, vast and intense power.
For a second, I understood how and why people ended up surrendering to it.
But then I realized...
I had the ability to end things. Erase this Godforsaken guild and stitch what I like and how I like it.
My knees buckled as I caught myself on the floor, my breathing coming out sharp.
"I feel like something is being torn off me."
'Because the guild recognizes you.'
In his words, golden light spilled out of the cracks of the door. It felt warm and familiar. My mother.
"Mom," I whispered. "Assuming my position, what would you do?"
Her voice rang in my mind without hesitation.
"I would end it."
I lifted my hand and wiped the tears on my face, feeling like her voice had given me newfound strength.
I pressed my thumb on the indentation and the door opened instantly. I felt the guild surge forward, as its ancient power brushed against my consciousness.
I didn't cower. I met things head on.
"Now that I'm here, might as well as let you know House of Nexus. I didn't open this door for your benefit. I opened it to destroy you."
I felt the threads around tighten. Yeah...the guild was officially awake and it knew my name.
'...Rui...'
"I know Nova. I know..." I replied as I took a step forward anyway. What is done is done.