I didn't think that I would acquire the fragment while keeping him alive this easily. But how did his body merge into her empty body?
Adonis didn't kill her but put her in deep sleep. Her soul was inside her body but it lost its value when the demon guardian ate her soul as a sacrifice before his death.
So that means her memories will be his too? This is really interesting.
"Why! Why did you take my fragment? And what's up with those tortured memories I'm remembering? Who is this damn lady called Elena inside this body? No, where is my body!"
Adonis cleaned the room with a snap of his finger and made a chair for Viktor to sit on. He was excited but he was keeping his head cool because of his master's presence.
But why on earth did his book change colour? Why is it blue?
"Hey, who are you?" Viktor asked.
"Me? I'm Welis, but these emotions inside my head are so confusing that I'm having a hard time controlling my feelings. Why do I feel so scared and suffocating inside my chest?"
"That's because you entered an empty body when your magic tried to find a way out. But why aren't you thinking about your lifespan? You're going to die pretty soon because I can see your book has already turned half-red for some reason."
Welis looked at Viktor's hand and saw a book with his name. It was slowly turning red. So he asked, "Who are you?"
"Me? I'm Elerous, the guardian of the records."
Welis was from the 7th generation guardian so he never saw the guardian of the records nor his twin brother Elerous before. But everyone inside the realm knew what kind of person he was and why he was executed by the permission of the creator. After his execution, there was a grand banquet held in the hall of guardians where they celebrated their success. Welis was also one of them who cheered. But the manslaughter of millions of guardians made him think if it was truly a good idea or not.
Later, when the world tree started to change its colour and lose its leaf, they all became concerned. The 1st generation tried to contact the creator so they went to heaven to meet the creator but there was no response. The heaven's guardian simply turned them away and told them never to visit again.
After that, Welis left the guardian realm and since then, he was unable to go back.
"You're Elerous? But how? He's dead isn't he?"
Viktor laughed and said, "Yes, I died twice already. I'm living my 3rd life."
"But how! How's that even possible? How do you remember and still have the power of a guardian? I don't believe it."
"I don't care if you believe it or not but you should really think about your body now. As you can see, your book is already red. You barely have an hour."
Suddenly, Welis puked out blood from his mouth and dyed the white floor in red blood. The empty body was rejecting his soul.
He looked at his dyed-red hand and said, "Am I really going to die this easily?"
"I'm afraid so."
"Please, do something. I can't use any magic and my legs are giving up. Please. Help me. I promise I won't tell anyone about you. Please."
Viktor looked at his book and saw he wasn't lying. His short-term future said that he would serve him as his master forever. So he closed his book and said, "I hope we can be on good terms from now on. Rest assured."
Viktor used healing magic on him that he received from the heaven's guardian and put him to sleep. All the internal wounds healed in a matter of seconds and the soul became permanent in her body.
"Adonis, you didn't forget to save some parts of her body for your experiment?"
"No, master. I've already collected a big portion of her body and healed it. I have test samples that weigh twice as much as her body. "
"That's great then. Keep him inside here until we make sure if it's Welis or Elena who's in control. She's a sly dog who can act very well."
"Don't worry master. As long as his body is inside my room, not a single cell can leave."
"That's great then. I'll leave the rest to you. Report everything in the morning. I'm going to take a small nap now."
"Yes, master. Have a peaceful naptime."
Now, one more to go.
It's a rumour but it coincidentally matches every person's story related to the temple. There's a saying that, if a person wanders inside the empty hallway of the temple, a staircase without any door would be seen. A dark staircase leads to an unknown room where people don't come back once they go in.
Not only that, there's more.
The doorless pathway appears in different places each night. Sometimes, it's in the maiden's hallway, sometimes it's in the hallway to the prayer room. Some say that it also appears in the greenhouse.
There is a strict rule that everyone inside the temple should fall before the clock hits the midnight bell. If they don't, there's a high chance that he or she would accidentally walk inside the mysterious doorless pathway.
Even the temple head priest doesn't wake up at night for the midnight prayer. He forbids everyone to come outside from their dormitory even if it's a life and death situation. Because the door back to your dormitory has a 50/50 chance to change into the doorless pathway in a second.
There's another rumour that goes around. They say, once a doorless path appears in front of a person, he has no option left but to enter it. Because no matter how further he tries to run away, the pathway will keep appearing throughout the temple.
When he rejects the pathway multiple times, all the doors will vanish inside the temple and leave you with no choice but to enter it.
So, once the doorless path closes you, you can't reject it.
Some moments before midnight inside the maiden's dormitory.
"Psstt!! Hey! Are you awake?"
A 17 year old temple maiden asked her colleague if she was asleep or not. It was raining heavily outside so she needed to use the bathroom. The moon was nowhere to be seen because of the cloudy sky so she failed to measure the time.
After 10 pm, it's mandatory to turn off the lights so she was also unable to light her candles.
But the room wasn't so dark so she was able to see the positions of everything.
"Hey Liza! Are you awake?"
"Tsk! What's your problem Liona? Let me sleep."
"I need to pee. Can you come with me? I'm scared."
"Just go. Don't bother me."
It's not midnight yet right? I just dozed off a bit and woke up. But it's so quiet and feels weird outside.
She looked outside through the door and saw there was light outside. So she walked outside and closed the door quietly to run towards the bathroom.
I don't know but I really feel like it's only going to take 3 to 4 minutes. I can't possibly hold my pee till the end hour, can I? I need to sleep!
It was past 2 at that time…
Inside the women's bathroom, the garden's light enters so it was full of lights. So she didn't face any difficulties to finish her work. So she happily went back to her dormitory and when she was about to hold the door in the dark, there was nothing.
A cold chilling feeling went inside her body.
After coming back from a bright place, her eyes were taking time to adjust to the darkness but no matter how many times she rubbed them, the square-shaped darkness in front of her wasn't going away.
I am sure this is the way to my dormitory. The flower pot is on the right, and the goddess painting hanging on the left. The guest room behind my back. It's the right place, right?
She knew what was going on. But she was refusing to believe all those rumours she heard for all these years. She believed the temple priests held night parties so they forbade everyone to come out by spreading false rumours.
But the empty door in front of her was no joke.
"I should go to the head maiden's room and ask for her help right?"
She turned to her left and started to walk towards a different section where the head maiden rests. But the hallway looked so long to her. The silent environment and the suffocating feelings on her back were eating her patience alive but she kept her mouth shut and went straight to her destination.
But she couldn't believe her eyes.
The door to the head maiden's room was gone. Instead, a doorless path was waiting in front of her.
She became frightened.