Chapter 7 - 007 ※ Beware the Immortal Secrets: When Your Family's Legacy is More Than You Bargained For

"And the name of this race is Immortal."

What the fuck—

How can this be happening right now? I can't wrap my head around it. The words barely register in my mind as I try to make sense of what's being said. Is he messing with me? How can he even know about this? What does he mean by 'Immortal'?

"They are the children of the Evermore, the gods who watch our world from above."

What? The Evermore? Gods? Is he saying that we are their children? That's… insane. This human, standing right in front of me, is talking about things that should be impossible for him to know. How does he even have this knowledge? There's no way anyone outside of our world should know about the Immortals, about us. And yet, here he is, spilling this information as if it's the most natural thing in the world.

How is this even possible?

"No one told me that they had any knowledge of us," I muttered, barely able to form the question in my mind, much less speak it aloud. "How is this possible?"

But he just kept going, his words flowing with a strange certainty.

"But once there are just a few Immortals, when they do twenty years old, after a lot of training, they are sent to a respective world, where they must complete an important mission."

For father's sake...

This… this is insane. I can feel the tension in my chest tighten as the truth of what he's saying starts to sink in. I had no idea. How was this part of the prophecy never told to me? Training, missions, a purpose beyond what I was even aware of. What is this world I'm supposed to be a part of? What mission? What am I even supposed to do with this information?

"And if they did it right, they will meet their soulmate and will be able to bring their mate with them when they come back to their home in a land above all the worlds, and there, the Evermore turn their partner into an Immortal so they can be together."

My blood ran cold, and the hairs on my arms stood up. Goosebumps. A soulmate? This is getting worse by the second. This isn't just some fairy tale. This is real, and it's happening, and I'm right in the middle of it. The way he speaks about it, the way he casually delivers this information like it's some long-accepted truth—it feels like it's been waiting to unfold, like I've been chosen for something I don't even understand yet.

I think I am having goosebumps.

How does this person know so much about us? Not only him, but his ancestors… h-how can this be happening? The more he spoke, the more it felt like the walls around me were closing in. This man—this human—has access to information that has been hidden from me my entire life. It feels like everything I knew has just been turned on its head.

How is it that this person, standing before me, can possess so much knowledge about a race like mine, about my existence, and what I'm supposed to be? And why now? How is it that he can tell me all this with such ease, with no hesitation, as if it's all just part of the world he's been living in for as long as he can remember?

It's all so much—too much. There's no way he can know these things. And yet, here we are, and it's all spilling out of him so casually, like it's just another part of his day-to-day life.

"And you know how they fall into our world? They fall like a shooting star from the sky, in a baby body. Just like I've found you."

Oh… fuck.

What the hell?

Am I screwed? Is this the moment where everything starts to unravel? If what he's saying is true, then that means I've been part of something far bigger than myself. How did I end up here? Am I just a piece in some cosmic puzzle, a mere player in a game I don't even understand? The implications of his words hit me harder than I could have imagined. I'm not even supposed to be here, am I? I was sent here, a child of the Evermore, to complete some mission I don't remember. It makes me feel like nothing more than a tool, a pawn in a plan that's been in motion for far longer than I've been alive.

I stared at his face with a serious gaze, my mind racing with thoughts that collided and tangled like a web too thick to untangle. He laughed.

Does he think I'm funny?

He doesn't seem to be bothered at all by the overwhelming flood of knowledge he's just unloaded onto me. In fact, he looks almost amused by my stunned silence. He doesn't seem to realize—or maybe he does—that what he just said has shaken me to my core.

"You must be so confused, asking yourself how a human, like me, can know about this. About you."

Oh, I am. You have no idea.

"But it's simple."

Simple?

Then please, enlighten me with your explanation. Because if there's one thing I need right now, it's answers. This doesn't make any sense, but I need to hear the rest of it. I need him to explain what he's talking about, what all this means, because right now, all I have is confusion and a growing sense of dread.

"Our empire was built, a thousand years ago, by my ancestor Asten Hadassah. Well, at least he received all the credits, but the unification of the kingdoms of the north, south, west, and east was made by him, Colden Hadassah, his older brother, and his best friend who was Colden's lover, Elsa Oakley."

I already knew about Asten, but those two were never mentioned in the book. Who the hell are they? And why are they suddenly so important? Why are they being dragged into all this? What do they have to do with anything?

"Colden disappeared from our world with Elsa, right after they conquered the continent and unified the empire with Asten, letting him get all the credits."

Wait, don't tell me that this Elsa and this Colden are…

"Elsa was an Immortal, she changed our world and when she left, Colden went with her, once he was her soulmate. And then, Asten passed the story to his descendants, and that's how I know about your race."

Bloody hell—

So this Elsa and this Colden really are, indeed, the couple I know. They weren't just names from old stories—legends passed down through the generations. They were real. They were part of this. And now, I'm just learning the truth about them, about what they did, how they changed everything. To think that they were the ones who built the empire, who forged a future for everyone, and that it was all tied to them being Immortals… it's too much.

Except for Ellie and Zayd, those two were the only ones who never laughed at me because I wasn't a Chosen Immortal like my brothers. They were always kind, always gentle when we saw each other, even if it was rare. I never thought of Elsa and Colden this way before. Never saw them through this lens. But now, after hearing everything, it's impossible not to. They were special, more than I ever realized, and the weight of their legacy is heavier than I ever imagined.

Elsa is Yule's daughter, my father's younger brother, but my uncle hated me just because I was my mother's daughter, once he was in love with her, but she chose my father. Well, this is a big surprise. Never could I imagine something like that. To know that she helped unite the kingdoms, to know that she was a part of the foundation of everything I've known—it's a shock. She really did change this world and earned the right to return home with her soulmate. It's overwhelming.

"By the look on your face, I suppose you must have met them at home."

He's smarter and can understand me better than I thought. His voice is calm, too calm, as if this is all normal to him. He reads my face like a book, and I can't hide the shock I'm feeling. I didn't even realize how much I was giving away until he said it.

And now, everything I thought I knew about my world, about my family, about myself, is crumbling. What I thought were harmless stories have turned into something much darker, something far more complicated, and I'm left wondering what I've really been a part of all this time.