Conan loved the feeling of peace sleep brought on him. Even his two thousand years of hibernation didn't feel as good as this.
As he was busy enjoying the sight of the blue and yellow ripples in the undulating chasm, he felt something pulling his consciousness.
It oddly felt like someone was summoning his through Astral Projection to somewhere else. Like a stone sinking in a pond. His consciousness was pulled towards the depths of the chasms until her hit something face first, then he felt his back on the floor.
He opened his eyes which he hadn't even realized he had closed with a startled gasp and rose from the ground. He looked at his hand and indeed, this was just an astral projection of him.
But who summoned him and where was he? He looked around. The first notable thing is that there was a fiery Vermillion star that illuminated everything with an intense radiance.
Then there was a dark, but immense starry sky. Full of cosmic beauties and twinkles that captivated and refreshed him by their beauty.
It was that he realized, Universe? Was he in the Universe?
He looked at the ground which stood on, it bore grasses and weeds. Though, to call them grass would be an understatement.
They were dancing when there was no wind and they have fiery Vermillion forms. Each blade of the grass was enough to reach his knees. There were fiery lotus and occasional giant mahogany trees with wispy leaves, and bearing semi-solid cosmic fruits.
Vermillion birds flew from trees, in schools. Their melodious chirps and songs resonated throughout the cosmic garden and brought nostalgia to his being.
He seemed to be in a garden of some sort. It was all brimming with pure cosmic energy that he wondered if the great prime celestial had summoned him into his garden.
"Hm? You seem to be in a mortal form."A voice came from behind him. It was from not so far away, yet it felt so close that he felt hot breaths on his neck "And you're naked in your astral form."
Conan's eyes widened, he froze in shock and when he regained himself, he turned around like an automaton and saw her.
"Phiona?"He muttered in shock. He knew he would meet her again but not this soon. For some reason, he felt like the timing wasn't right. It was strange.
"You summoned me?"He inquired.
Indeed Phiona was there with eyes blazing with abundant energy. Wispy vermillion hairs flaunted frantically, she wrapped her wings around her frame, covering her nakedness or whatever she was hiding beneath a fiery mask.
The Sword of Oath was resting just beside her. Something felt wrong about that, he felt like the sword has weakened.
She sat on a throne-like seat with scaled legs crossed. her clawed golden-scaled legs were also the only visible apart from her face.
"I'm fine, what about you?"Her lips stretched into a smile. And angular eyebrows burned as her blazing vermilion eyes bore contempt toward his being "You seem to have moved on. I bet you have a new mortal wife now."
Conan frowned, wondering If that was jealousy or something else "What? No, I still remember you—"
"Then what are you doing in your mortal form?!"She intercepted him loudly, her voice sending heat waves to his face. This was her domain.
And she was a Pseudo-Celestial. Equal to a Pseudo-god
"It's a long story..."He sighed.
"Yeah... I bet it's not as long as being ashes for five thousand years. Is it?"She tilted her head and sarcastically said.
"Phiona, I'm sorry—."
"Sorry?..."Phiona laughed derisively "...no need to be, it's not like you ever loved me. I was just a powerless and naive mortal, intoxicated by your deception. I still can't believe love got me into this mess."
Conan's face twitched, but he was silent with his arms crossed over his chest.
She looked at the Vermillion birds that danced around in the sky and continued "and now I had to live with the burden of immortality. Because of my mistakes, I was trapped by the devil."
"Phiona, what are you talking about? All I wanted is for us to have a family—."Phiona intercepted again.
"And I was just a pawn!"She pronounced loudly and the grasses blazed "I was an experiment. Resurrecting me, assimilating the blood of the ancient phoenix with mine, and making me very its bloodline, raising me till I became immortal. All that was just an experiment wasn't it?"
"That's not true, I did that because I didn't want to lose you."Conan frowned. Somehow, he felt like he had been apprehended, but still, he refused to accept it.
"You did that because you'll be lonely again if I died. And thus you took your time to experiment with me as a tool to free you from Loneliness."
Conan furrowed his face in disproving stand "That's wrong, I only did that because..."
He felt lost for words. He felt like no excuses could bail him from his sentence, he felt like he had been caught.
"See? You never loved me but I was foolish enough to feel that way about you. I only interested you and I've been feeling that your mind has been wandering towards me as of late, was I that much of an interesting puppet?"She smiled lavishly at him. A smile that camouflaged throbbing pain and regrets.
Conan thought about it and felt conflicted. Truly, he wanted a family, and he did feel attracted to Phiona. There was just something about her smile that Put him at ease all the time.
"You can't love me because I'm not your Mate. I don't know why I'm so interesting to you though."
The words sunk in and he felt clarity. Phiona was interesting. She always found a way to pull him out of his Loneliness which made him obsessed with her.
So much that he mistook Love for Interest? Was he that desperate?
As much as he wouldn't even want to admit it, he did feel exhilarated when he resurrected Phiona, after all, it was his first time doing so. To him it was fun.
He thought he was doing it for three reasons;
For Phiona herself, for their dream of having a family come true, and because he loved her and can't afford to lose her.
That last part was what his subconsciousness convinced him to justify his actions, as not a crazy experimentist but a passionate husband.
Even the part where he almost felt like dying when he thought she had died was just his way of escaping the despair that comes along with loneliness.
He can't believe loneliness made him do such things. And he felt like he has done it again. Strangely, he didn't feel any guilt or remorse as he once felt.
Probably because Phiona was alive he felt relieved. It was strange looking at her smile. He felt like she was hiding something.
"Say, how is my sect doing?"
He didn't reply and just kept thinking. Had he adopted useless morals from mortals? Apart from the experimenting issue altogether, why is he feeling the presence of two entities and not one?
He frowned and opened his mouth to ask what happened after she woke up and where this place was but was intercepted again.
"Hang on... Your time is up! Your presence is irritating her!"She smiled and shooed him away before he could speak. An unknown force carried him and slammed him onto the ground. He was powerless against her since it was his astral projection.
His body went right through the ground and his consciousness arrived within the chasms again. But this time, it was in his view, as though he closed his eyes.
He heard noises coming from around him, coupled with grunts and a rush of footsteps, hums, and buzzeS but it was all faint.
He opened his eyes, and the light blinded him for a moment. He rose from the chair and blinked several times till his vision cleared and his senses came back fully.
"Division A! Enforcement agents, squad ravinggaze reports! We have apprehended Four of the suspected individuals, Ma'am!"A voice pronounced out loud in an emergency.
"Division B! There is one remaining. Set up the embracelets and prepare yourselves! We are barging in!"Another voice ordered.
"C! One of the suspects put up a fight and killed one of our men! But we took him down! Awaiting orders from captain Razing!"
Annoying noises came from almost everywhere. Outside the door. Outside the windows, in the rooms. It was just too chaotic.
Just who are these intruders?
He looked around and was stunned. Kitty and Zoe were being embraced by a machine of some sort and they seem to have been tranquilized. Green veins popped up all over their skin and increased as they struggled.
He stood up and adjusted his night robe/ form-shifting armor. he looked to the side and spotted a hole in the wall, through which he saw the people on the other side. Armed with powerful weapons.
He smiled, not because he found the situation pleasing, but because of how ironic it was. Hadn't he planned to stay away from violence? Yet it came to him already.
Seeing how Zoe and Kitty were being taken down, effortlessly was fascinating. They were powerful even in their mortal forms but the intruders had devices that could capture them.
Had these people somehow followed him the previous night to know who he was? And are now trying to capture him and his babies at the dawn of the day?
A cold glint surfaced in his reflective eyes and he prepared himself for a decent bloodshed. Hopefully, that'll be the last.
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A/N:
#Astral projection: A way superior beings use to cross dimensions, planes, and realities or dreams—especially that of mortals— using an extension of the soul to appear, detached from their true bodies.
#Mind is equivalent to brain and soul.