Chapter Thirty-Six
RESONATING DREAMS
"Yo, lich."
"Hmm?"
The lich lifted its head to look over at Dionysus, who was also in a similar state to it.
"I still remembered this dimension in our original one, aren't I not supposed to be able to do that?"
Dionysus realized, a bit ago, that he could fully remember this dimension while working at the bar, even though he should have had absolutely no memories of it. The lich, confused by what Dionysus was saying, threw out a thought.
"I don't know much about it, but maybe the dimension just isn't as good as you think it is? My liege is constantly leaving and entering it whenever he pleases, and he very clearly never forgets it."
The lich also brought up a valid point, the fact that Dionysus wasn't the first to remember it. The Chained King clearly showed signs, every now and then, that he remembered this dimension, even in the original dimension that they all come from. Along with that, it seemed that even the lich somewhat remembered it when he first met it in the dungeon.
'Everyone has their own reasons for remembering it. The lich is undead, so there may be a mistake in the creation of this system that would allow it to remember. The Chained King was with me for a long, long time, but not once did I ever get to see what his abilities were until the very end. Even then, I don't know much about them.'
As for Dionysus, he could, most likely, chalk it up to his new ability, which allows him to retain information in a much, much more powerful manner than the average human. Even now, he was slowly beginning to understand this dimension. Who its creators were, why it was created, all of it. If he had to describe the feeling of this information gathering, it was like some liquid was constantly dripping onto his brain, and then his brain would act like a sponge and absorb it.
'Still, this stuff's got me thinking . . .'
With the newfound information about this dimension, its history, along with the Chained King's, was being unraveled.
Centuries ago, the Chained King was the son of a blacksmith, and not a famous one, to say the least. While everyone was sprouting up with abilities, he had none of his own, but nobody made fun of him for it. In fact, many of the adults praised him and called him a 'pure one'. Back at that time, although people were known to have weird abilities, no research was conducted.
As he grew older, he succumbed to a life of drinking, gambling, and thievery, taking every chance that he could to live out his life to the fullest that he could. On the inside, he had resigned himself to forever lurking in the background of humanity, to never stand out.
This was just a small, small fragment of all the information Dionysus had gathered, and it was constantly being added onto.
'And I wonder why I keep getting involved in this stupid crap . . .'
Dionysus was disappointed in himself for being the main reason that he was always getting dragged into these abnormal situations. In fact, in his mind, the reason that all of this begun was because he had gotten too greedy and wanted another dungeon, which dropped him into a rabbit hole that he was still climbing out of to this day.
'Isn't my awakened ability supposed to reflect on my true character? If it's an ability that lets me absorb information, does that mean I'm curious?'
No matter how much information he absorbed, the questions that he couldn't answer were the ones related to he himself.
--- SEQUENCE 2 ---
"Puppet, new orders have come in."
Veritas, on his wooden chair, was looking up at a winged beauty. She had a cloak made of golden light, one that you couldn't touch by reaching out. Wherever she went, the location that she was in lit up, fitting of an angel.
"Speak up. What is it?"
The angel descended until she reached the ground, but right before she made contact with it, she stopped herself.
"It's dirty."
She chose to keep floating in the air in front of Veritas, which was something he didn't mind, excluding the very bright light that he was staring directly at.
"These are orders directly from it itself, so listen and carry them out like an obedient puppet."
" . . . Speak up, you've got me on edge now."
Veritas had given up long ago; deciding the best way to protect that which he cared about was through obediently following orders.
"Too many humans with extreme powers and potential have gathered in this city."
She stopped talking after that, but Veritas got what she was getting at. Though, he wasn't happy with the conclusion that he had arrived at in his mind, so he asked her just to make sure.
"You, no, it . . . it wants this city gone?"
"If you understand, carry out these orders."
A joke, that's what Veritas saw this as.
" . . . Wait, damn it, wait. If it just wants the powerful people gone, wouldn't it be fine if I just killed all the people who're a threat?"
He was grasping at straws, he understood that, but even so, he wanted to believe in a better ending to all of this. The reason he had set up camp at this capital was because too many people with potential and powers were gathering here, and it was deemed as a location where caution should be exercised. For that reason, the heavens ordered Veritas to keep an eye on the capital of the Empire.
"That's no good. You may be able to go and kill off all the people who currently have powers, but what about those with potential? Are you claiming that you hold an ability that not even the one up above would be able to see?"
It was true, Veritas had no way of seeing who had potential and who didn't, all he could do was kill the ones who already revealed what they had.
" . . . Are you sure you didn't just misconstrue the words that it ordered were delivered to me?"
He refused to believe in this right until the very final moment.
"Do you take me as one to be foolish enough to defy the great one?"
The silence was deafening. Enshrouded in the holy light of the heavens brought by the angel in front of him, Veritas' shoulders slumped, and he very nearly fell off his chair in despair.
But, he held onto himself, regardless of what he was facing.
" . . . Understood."
If this were what it would take to protect humanity from the wrath of the heavens, Veritas would continue to play along like a little puppet until the very last moment of his life. He had decided on this ever since that horrid day.
"It seems that even a puppet like you can get its strings cut off. Make sure that no such thing occurs again."
With that, the beautiful angel disappeared. Veritas, who had previously regained his composure and was sitting upright, let his body collapse into the seat he was on.
'Damn it all to hell, things have gone wrong again.'
Not again, not now, not ever, would he let an accident like the previous one happen. He placed the palm of his right hand on the scar that went from up above his right eye to below his bottom lip. Fortunately, his eye was still working, at the cost of losing a lot of his ability to identify colors in it.
'That's right, I can't let it happen again.'
Although he didn't want to do this, he understood when resisting would be futile, and that moment would be now. He had already tried to somehow get her to return to the great one and beg him for a different outcome, but she firmly rejected even the notion of it. If he continued to fight back, a much, much worse ending could be waiting.
'Negata, Ira, Incidamus, Pactione, Acceptatione, listen up.'
He was constantly connected to all five of them, and saw that each and every one of them was paying attention, at least mentally.
"Negata, Acceptatione, Incidamus, and Pactione, you four are going to go around the city and terrorizing everyone. As for Ira, you're going to be coming back to base."
'Right.'
'. . . Of course.'
'Can't I convince you otherwise?'
'Right on, I'll head out!'
'I'll be there in a bit Veritas.'
He got confirmation from all five of them, and they all began to move out. Ira, the only woman in the group, was making her way back to the base, and was already in the sewers.
'This is damn annoying.'
Considering that they were all linked to one another, the five surely already understood that Veritas had met up with one of the angels, so Veritas expected only their utmost best out of them.
CREAK
Veritas sat on the chair with both of his elbows on his knees and his fingers intertwined in one another, awaiting the arrival of Ira.
' It's time . . . to wrap this up.'
--- SEQUENCE 2 ---
While the battle at the capital began its preparations, a soul similar to that of Dionysus' was wandering through the whole continent. During all of this time, all he had done was go around and experience life for himself, to come to his own terms and resolutions.
This person was also Dionysus, and he was on what one could call a soul journey.
'This is kinda lame, but I'm also kinda enjoying it.'
He was finally beginning to figure out the person that he truly was, not the one that the Chained King had ordered him to be.