'How did I not notice? They were so far the last time I saw those glittery eyes, when did they move so fast and without making any sound?', They were so close to my face. They were bent over a little so their nose was almost touching mine. I couldn't believe my eyes even for a second. Those amber eyes locked on me and pearly white hair with a red steak to the side of its bangs were glowing as if it was sprinkled with fairy dust. They gave a comfortable feeling, it was peaceful and warm.
With only just one glance, that would wipe away all your worries and previous thoughts about your system. The murky aura of that person speaks volumes, but that wasn't unexpected after all the things I had heard them say. They were holding onto anger and frustration, meaning that their soul was not at peace, but that wasn't reflected on the outside...to a certain degree.
Strangely enough, I felt at ease facing the unknown person, who not long ago made me scared for my life to the core. One reason was because of the familiar feeling I was getting from them the entire time I was looking at their face, and another reason was the realization that came after.
A man slightly taller than me with both of his hands tied with a long chain where I couldn't see the end of it. That face… if it wasn't for that strange black liquid dripping down his forehead, I was going to think that there was a mirror in front of me…but it couldn't have been me, even if that was just an image to create confusion.
That familiar feeling is different. Like I have met this person before, I had seen this face somewhere and... the things he said and the aura it gave…about balance, creator, and loathing the human beings, now it all makes sense. Although I could have made a wild guess from the beginning and it would have not sounded unlikely either after all the strange things that have been happening, I fear that it is more than that.
"A-are you-…!?"
He took a step back without breaking eye contact, "Oh my, haha, how rude of me. I said I was going to introduce myself, but the only thing I did was rant at you!", his smile grew wilder. The crackling coming from his arms moving behind his back felt like a knife stab. The sound was uncomfortable to hear at that moment, especially because the smile and unfazed expression, while he was trying to dislocate his wrists to break free from the chains, sent chills down my spine.
"Still, the timing was not right then, but now that the clock of time has stopped, I have no reason to hold back, right? And you got a rough idea who I am already so…why not tell you my name now and get all the merging thing out of the way for good, huh?"
Merging!? He seriously wants me to believe that a soul can be cut in half and even exist to the day when they go back to being one again, and that would be possible just by saying his name!? That's ridiculous. Not to mention that he told me I didn't reincarnate into a novel, where there is evidence that I did. I have read the story and to a certain point, it is accurate, but even if it might have changed a little, that does not mean that I have to doubt the validity of the whole thing.
"Too bad! It would have been easier to maneuver through their manipulations if you have full control of what your body can do."
"I don't have to use gifted powers to do that. After all, I'm just 'one' rapha against a world full of humans that know their limits and what they are capable of. They will not try to coexist or understand me and use every means possible to hold into their position without needing to sacrifice anything in return so, declaring war with them would be foolish. Besides, if we are talking about their disadvantage in power and how weak and fragile there are compared to me, I as well have the number disadvantage which would end in me losing my own life.", I hope this becomes clear to him and that they stop insisting on something I'm not interested in. He can read my thoughts anyways since we are both inside my mind realm, so this might not be surprising for him. Besides, I won't accept something coming from someone as strange as him. It is fishy, their intentions are not pure and I don't want to imagine what is going to happen to my consciousness and what is left of my humanity after agreeing with him.
'Hm!? He seems distracted.' His eyes are moving from one side to the other like trying to catch a glimpse of something out of place. He is looking up, focused on one certain point, "Interesting! You know…since you are no longer in control of your body, I can partly see the outside world from here.", he isn't moving his eyes from a white dot amitting a faint light above his head.
'Was that always there?', I wouldn't have noticed if he didn't raise his head to look at it. He said that he can see the world outside just now, but even if I do the same thing as him, I can't see anything coming from that white dot.
"That's because you keep denaying what you really are."
"Huh!?", sweet talk, manipulation, and distraction. That won't work with me, and he is basically calling me incompetent for not being in control of my own body, "So now I am denying myself?"
"You're not a human and you should accept that. The fact that you don't believe that this is reality, your reality, makes it clear that you have no intention to progress any further and obtain what you already lack. Thinking as an outsider and deliberately making your move through a person's predictable actions just because they are a 'character' within a story, will end up in your downfall sooner or later."
That doesn't make sense. They are all 'characters' and I was randomly selected to play this role just like Nasya or Alastair. Possessing our old memories is just a bonus and a very useful one of all, that can determine our path depending on what choice we make. If it wasn't for that, we as well would be just like those people without a clear motive and living our lives just like that, a character of an already written story.
"What makes you so sure that this is not what I presume to be?" I took my role without questioning it or trying to figure out the whereabouts of the old soul of this body, but I have thought about it as well. Was I chosen or it was just random luck that I was reborn again? The fact that he bought it up is weird on its own, however, it's likely possible that this person knows more since he is the first of all of us and the one who proclaims to be the other half of the 'original' soul. "You must have some proof or at least that might be a truth to your statement since you already know about everything I have been thinking all these years. Or perhaps you are using all the information you have collected by being inside my brain to confuse me and make me agree with whatever you offer."
"I told you, didn't I? We are one and the same and we are both fragments of the same soul, not to mention, you can feel and see it with your own two eyes, but if you want me to prove it, fair enough. I planned to do that from the beginning."
He couldn't take his eyes off that small white dot and the light coming from there was starting to glow bringer, "One of the firsts. The embodiment of pride and wrath stand before you to pledge their loyalty to one another…" before I could question his sudden change and odd way of answering my question, the noise coming to the surrounding dark energy screaming in agony as if it was being devoured little by the blinding light, made my heart drop and trembling in fear. It sounded like human voices crawling up from the depth of hell and calling for help after being thrown into the burning lava.
His words made that small dot above him grow bigger at a rapid speed. He raised his voice making it echo everywhere, "Raeliana and I…once known as the first rapha call upon you…!", he looked at me with his eyes turning black and the ground started shaking. The loud, sharp noise of a large chunk of metal ripping made my ear ring to the point of bleeding. I screamed in pain as if someone was ripping my heart out of my chest while seeing how the walls of my brain were shattering as glass pieces.
The person in front of me disappeared into the light as well as everything in my field of view turned into nothing but a white space, a cubicle. I felt relieved since there wasn't a sign of that person anymore, but the noise didn't stop. Even if I covered my ears, I could still hear their blood-curdling screams inside my mind.
He was right when he said that whatever those things were, it was a living thing. The voices… sounded so miserable that it gave me the chills. I'd never heard anything like it before. Begging and asking for help before being consumed by the light proved that whatever it was…it was seeking my aid as a hopeless victim in its last moments, and I couldn't do anything after being caught up by fear.
When I opened my eyes again, I couldn't see anything. The weirdest thing was that although I could still feel the ground beneath my feet being intact and steady, that world had changed drastically. From an endless pit of darkness where nothing can be seen except for the host, yet it will never make you feel lonely since there are always eyes watching every move, to blank space standing in a small piece of land floating mid-air separated from the rest of what once was an entire realm with nothing but my presence to fill the emptiness. In disbelief, I tried to take a step forward and reassure myself that as a host I could make it go back to 'normal' again, but as I did that, the ground beneath me, or what was left of it, started shaking.
"Why is this happening again!? If it wasn't for the words he said before ending into this mess, I would have brushed it off just as another weird vision, but everything is real and now I'm starting to think that something…no, definitely it was what he was summoning who is trying to forcefully throw me down there.", the ground was shaking so much it was crumbling down with every step I made to avoid falling. The edges of the cubicle were falling apart and the pieces went down a black hole, which was getting smaller with every piece of land going inside it, on the 'suffice' of what would appear to have been the starting point. I was left standing in the little circle where I couldn't take a step forward or backward. I was stuck there, "This much is keeping me from being sucked in by that hole. If I fall, does that mean I will end up in a void or consumed the same way as the surrounding darkness trying to crawl back up and still brutally executed by some entity?", then again that person from before, the first rapha wasn't there anymore, and after reciting those weird words he may or may not have ended down there.
So, if my theory is right, then when both of us go into that whole the spell he was trying to chant will be complete!? I might make a huge mistake by believing in this theory, and the risk is too high to just go along with it without a second thought, but the first rapha is supposed to be my other half, right? And I am the embodiment of pride for some weird reason, and he is wrath which would explain that the sudden rage I have felt so many times on different occasions was coming from him and not from me.
Something snapped inside of me and just one thought, as crazy as it was taking over me, "What if I jump in there…will I find the answers I'm looking for? His physical chains have been broken so mine as well will be…hah…haha…hahaha!", I could control my laughter as I was connecting all the dots in my head.
The first rapha, he said his name was One, didn't he? Was punished and as Raphael said, he was not going to reincarnate since his soul was corrupted and so he would have a painful life even after death, "Which being chained inside a body as a lost soul without making any contact with the outside world or me for just a long time is nearly accurate with his claim.", the back liquid dripping down his forehead was also something I couldn't explain since I didn't know what had happened to him inside here, but what surprised me the most was his desire for balance. Although that was meant to be a merge of darkness and light since the first rapha had to avenge the saintess death, "He never mentioned his sister! Not even once and he kept pushing the thought of 'reunion of both souls' into me."
Maybe…just maybe this was an alternative. His plan B after the original one didn't work out. And maybe…the light is not even there anymore. What if he was trying to tell me this all along? I was eager to find out its whereabouts without considering other things. What I'm going to do after that? Where is my life heading?
I guess I don't have a reason to trust him, and the same goes for takings his words at face value. On the other hand, I would like to believe that if I follow a different course from here on out, I will be able to see things more clearly and understand this world the way it is rather than a told story. Therefore, I will take that risk and hope that one day I will accept the outcome as it is.
Differently from the first rapha who focused entirely on the white dot, I will say those words to the other end, "One of the firsts. The embodiment of pride and wrath stand before you to pledge their loyalty to one another. I…Raeliana and the one who once was known as the first rapha call upon you!", I blankly recited the same words as my mind was focused in only one thing, 'How fitting! The irony of fearing something on the outside where that thing was always there inside of you. If there would be an end, it will be with me looking down into nothing while hoping that the ground below my feet won't break before I do.'
At the end of the chanting, the place started shaking again, the hole grew bigger and when I closed my eyes and basically waited to fall into the abyss, then a voice whispered in my ear a name that made my mind turn blank. However, when I decided to say it in pure instinct, as if someone, a greater force was pushing me to scream the name out loud, "I am Aide-…!?", the ground collapsed and my body kept falling and falling. It didn't seem to stop and I could see nothing, but pieces of shiny red petals floating up as I was going down at a rapid speed. I could think of anything at that moment. Regrets? Anger? Sadness or happiness? Nothing mattered anymore since it was I who made that choice and emotions were being sucked out of me the same as my body. My heart dropped when I finally saw light below my feet and strangely, it felt like I was passing through a big dark tunnel and the air was sucking me, my non-physical body out of there.
…Everything was dark and I didn't know what to expect. Was I going to be dead? Will my eyes open and see the face of a pathological liar or the face of the true being that was created by merging both mine and One's half of memories? Whichever it is, I hope this time I could see things more clearly and choose a better path for myself, or this whole thing will turn into a nightmare I cannot escape. Because I didn't merge with him and now that the chains are broken, nothing will stop One from taking control of half of my brain.
"Rai!?", I opened my eyes slowly by hearing a warm voice calling my name. My vision was blurry and my body was all limbs as if I was standing in the same position and sleeping for decades. My eyes wandered around to confirm that I was still in my room, but the ambient had changed. I could see Spencer standing at the door, leaning in the doorframe. Two unknown people standing not that far away from him, covered from head to toe with a long blue cape with the symbol of the official crest of the royal knights. A woman I had never seen before standing beside me, with her hands a little above my face and she looked like she was reciting something with her eyes close.
"I see you are awake now." She smiled as her big green eyes shined with hope, "No need to be cautious of me, young lady. I see that your eyes are burning with fire, but I will explain myself and you will see that I'm here to help you.", she raised her arms as if to show she was surrounding and didn't mean any harm to me, "I took out some of the dark energy that was consuming your body, and now everything will be pain-free experience on earth. His highness told me the gist of it and I know that one of his many dark spirits entered your body and was eating you from the inside. Though, when I came here I could more than one, and all of them were wiped out as if they were never there."
"Heh!", I couldn't help but chuckle, "Dark spirits you say? They were a meal, servants…or better say, a sacrifice for the greater good, but yes. They are all gone after the did was done."
"Huh!?", she looked confused by how I responded but decided to ignore it and go back to her happy attitude, "Well anyway, I'm glad that everything worked out and I did the job I came here for. His highness will be here shortly and for the time being, I would like to talk to you and know your kind better. Could you give me the honor to study you?"
I opened my eyes wide and her words made me snap back to reality. I got up and looked around again, turning my gaze at Spencer, "Where am I? How much time has passed while I was unconscious?", my eyes and hand were trembling when I saw that that wasn't my bed, my room, and the duke's mansion. I look wound and Alastair wasn't there, and I turn my eyes on Spencer again with my voice filled with fury, ["Who called for me?"]