Chapter 169 - Free

"You...died...?" Clair's alternate ego asked, continuing to back away. "Yeah. Died. He's died twice, and I think I might have died seven times, maybe. I left my original planet too early, and now I'm here, travelling the cosmos. I want to settle myself down here for a bit, as being up amongst the stars can get to your head if left unsupervised. I have interacted with a few gods, and I've only found two that were not stuck in their own world. That is the beauty of what this universe has to offer. You can explore everything you want to, but there are always downsides to a situation where there is an upside. It's the natural law of the universe. Where there is good, there is bad. I used to be evil, but now I am not, meaning I went from one side of the spectrum to the other. Crystet oscillated on it, as he was good, then he was evil, but now he's like this. If you can see what I mean, then you'll understand when I say 'people can change'." Aaron explained, lifting his arms into the air. "The universe is an enormous place. You can find anything you could ever think of, as long as you search hard enough. You could even find a world populated only by cats. Just cats. It probably exists." He explained to Clair. "We could easily find unheard of civilisations, and we can't even fathom what they'd look like. Maybe they are like us or different from Crystet and me. We'll be the ones who get to find who and what there is to see. It's all like a game of explanation, Clair's alter ego." He finished as his hand was pointing directly upwards, almost as if he was indicating something. Clair's alter ego looked up into the air, and her eyes widened. In her eyes, the stars began shining in multiple colours. Red, green, blue, yellow, almost any colour that you could think of. It was almost like a rainbow in the sky.

"What...is going on...?" Clair's alter ego asked, looking up into the sky in amazement, the lights from the illusion reflecting in her eyes. "This is all an illusion, but it perfectly showcases my point. All of these are different stars, and in the distance, there may be a planet. People can't ever figure out what is beyond the stars, but I can. I've been to an advanced civilisation, and I've been to a less advanced one. All have their perks and downfalls, but they're all unique. They all have different people, new experiences, and new things to explore. It's a shame I didn't realise that earlier. I was taking things for granted if we're being honest. I never stopped to think about what was truly going on around me. I was too caught up in my own world. My abilities had taken precedent, and I had wanted to find out who and what I could be. What I could do. However, I had left a trail of destruction in my wake. Crystet is an example of that. Crystet and I died together on his own planet, and then we died together later on, in another world. We didn't even know it until we had met each other as we left that little world behind. I was the villain in the first world, and he was the villain in the next. Isn't it strange how that worked out?" Aaron asked her, explaining why everything was the way it was.

"Wow...I can't believe what I'm seeing and hearing. Gods do exist, and there's one right in front of me. They've died before and have knowledge of other planets...it's almost too much for me to handle, even though I'm the much more capable part of Clair." Clair's alter ego spoke out, looking into the air as the illusion slowly faded away. "You know, I'm happy you brought her away from that place, Aaron. She was too scared to try to leave herself because the people there told her that she would be killed by the 'monsters' who lived outside." Clair's alter ego continued to speak as Aaron listened to what he was being told by her. This was going to be the best information he'd get out of Clair, so he needed to pay attention.

"She was scared out of her mind, but when she got thrown out, there was no sign of any monsters, at least, until she went into the forest. She tripped over a stray tree branch, and that's when the feet began pounding. All we could hear were feet slamming against the ground, and hundreds of monsters ran towards us like a horde. They were all centipede-like monsters, and they quickly circled Clair. I tried to give her advice from inside her mind, but she never responded, meaning she didn't hear me when I was talking, or she was too scared to think about what was going on." Clair's alter ego continued. "We were slowly backed up against a tree, and we couldn't jump over the wall of monsters because our legs aren't long nor strong enough. That's when you found us. You killed both the monsters and the Demon King like it was nothing at all. You showed us what true strength looked like, and you freed her from the mental grasp of the villagers there. Seriously, you don't realise how much this helps us in the long run. I can come out more, and I'll be of more use to people." Clair's alter ego explained before throwing a curveball at Aaron in the metaphorical sense. "I have decided that I'd give myself a new name, and I have an idea of what I want to call myself, but I want to see if you'd like it, Aaron, as you'd have a lot of experience with names, due to your travels."

"Sure, what would you like to call yourself, alter ego?" Aaron asked her as she took a deep breath.

"I wish to call myself by what I feel. 'Free'."