[Location: Focalor, Unnamed Forest]
[9:23 AM, February 28, 134827, AP]
In the middle of the forest, you could see Seraphina walk playfully as she jumped at the rocks one by one as she hummed, doing so in fact creating a peaceful and beautiful scenery as birds even sang with her humming's. Some even landed on Seraphina's head and shoulder. Seeing that the birds were humming with her and landing on her head and shoulders, she created treats for the birds and gave them to them. As the birds took a bite and seemed to have liked the treats that Seraphina gave them, seeing that the birds liked the treats that she gave them made her smile. As she finally heard a waterfall in the area and followed where the sound came from, she saw both Nepheria and Crown sleeping together.
"Hmm? Oh, there you are, both of you. It took me some time to find you, especially since the whole place is a field with illusions" Seraphina said to the sleeping Nepheria and Crown.
"Hey, hello, are you awake? Hmm, that's weird. They usually always wake up instantly when someone's around" Seraphina said as she got close to them, touched their heads, and let her essence seep into their brains, understanding the problem both of them are currently facing.
"Oh, it's mental fatigue. They should have cured it already. Why are they still sleeping? Well, let's see" Seraphina said as she even out more essence to look if there's any problem in their bodies, as she suddenly felt something she is very familiar with.
"Too think that despite being still inside the Rivers of Samsara, she could still let out her essence just to do this, then let me break it for the both of you" Seraphina said as she put more essence into trying to overpower the other essence. It was hard, but it's not impossible, as she made the essence inside both Nepheria and Crown go outside as it flows away and created a crack in space returning to the Rivers of Samsara.
"There we go; they should wake up in about a few seconds" Seraphina said, as she seemed eager to surprise both of them, as this should be their first meeting in this current life. She is thinking of a way to surprise them both while they are asleep.
"Any minute now they should wake up" Seraphina said, as it seems that her calculations on how long they will wake up seemed to be wrong, as she seemed to become more impatient as it's been a long time since they last met after all. As she waited for them, she just played with the birds to pass the time.
"Any hours – Ah! Both finally wake up!" Seraphina said to the couple, waking with a little tear running down her cheeks as if she had been waiting for both of them for a long time. Although Nepheria and Crown's minds are a little jumbled, as they saw Seraphina, they were both in shock as their mouths opened in surprise.
"Seraphina, why are you – Ouch my head!" Crown said as her head seemed to have been hit by something painful, as it seems similar to Nepheria too, and she held her head tightly while forcing herself not to shout due to the intense pain they are currently feeling. Seeing this, Seraphina is a bit worried but understands that it's just a side effect of waking up from such huge mental fatigue, as she used her essence to erase the pain they are currently feeling.
"Don't worry, it's just the side effect of you waking up from such huge mental fatigue" Seraphina said as she used her essence to heal both of them as both of them suddenly fell light as if the pain had disappeared and they had their minds calmed down as they both looked at Seraphina with a thankful expression.
"How did you even restore us? Even Eve could not even restore us" Nepheria said as she looked at her as if looking for an answer.From her countless past lives, Seraphina is actually weaker than Eve, and she is actually even weaker than them.
"Ah, that's because the defense mechanism is not for me but for the Supreme Commander, and if she ever heals you using her own essence, she will be the one put to sleep for maybe about 500 years—that is, unless the Supreme Commander forcefully wakes herself up" Seraphina explained. The reason Eve couldn't heal them is not because she can't. It's because she cannot heal them. The message is actually very clear to whoever did this to them. It's saying that Eve should not heal them for some reason.
"Is that so, but where is Eve?" Nepheria said as she looked around, as they seemed to not see Eve around or Eve in this reality, even expanding their senses and views to other realities to the point they even searched up to the Essence Reality Marbles, letting other Essence users know of their existence.
"She's not even in those parts, do you know where she is, Seraphina?" Crown said as she looked at Seraphina for answers, as she might know where Eve is currently.
"Actually, she visited me to protect you guys. As for where the Supreme Commander is, I don't know, but one thing I'm sure of is that the Supreme Commander is currently fighting something very powerful" Seraphina said as she remembered that time when Eve seemed to have lost balance, and if she remembers correctly, Eve or Evelyn does not lose balance unless something is happening.
"Protect us? I'm pretty sure we are actually strong enough to protect ourselves" Nepheria said, as they are actually quite stronger than over the time they have trained with Eve. Although not at their peak, they are actually even more powerful than many Essence users. If we put them in a rank, they should currently be in the thousands.
"Well, I've actually become stronger than before, and the both of you are not even at your peak" Seraphina said, as she was very persistent in doing what Eve had asked her to do.
"Sigh, if you say so, then we'll be in your care, Seraphina" Nepheria said.
"Mhm, then first, let's go to your home. We can't just stay in the middle of the forest doing nothing. Now, can you both please lead the way?" Seraphina said as she asked them to lead the way so they could talk along the way.
"Sure, our home is over there. Follow me" Crown said as she walked to a paved path as both Nepheria and Seraphina followed behind her.
"Oh, that's right. Before Eve asked you to protect us, what were you doing before?" Crown asked Seraphina, as she currently wants to know the situation about the essence users. Hearing what Crown said, Seraphina began to think about what she actually did before she came here.
"It's hunting some Essence users who are trying to build a bridge to reach the Archive, so I'm actually forced to kill all of them" Seraphina said as she retold the story before Eve had asked her to protect Nepheria and Crown.
"Is the Archive still there? I thought those people from the 10 council have destroyed it" Nepheria said as she remembered that before her death in her last life, the Archive was besieged, and of course the defense of the Archive is there as archivists, readers, librarians, guards, and more are guarding it. The reason for it to be besieged is that the 10 council wanted to retrieve a certain item.
"No, they just cut off the connection, so it's impossible to enter and get out of the Archive" Seraphina said, as it seemed they had failed to take the item. Since they failed, they were forced to cut off the connection so that the entities from the archive would not get out of the Archive itself.
"Is that so, I wonder if the Eternal Book is still there?" Nepheria said as she remembered the item that the 10 council had and also the item that killed her and Crown in their past lives.