'Stop!!'
A voice reverberated in his head. It was more like an order than a simple warning, but Atlas reacted promptly and didn't cross that tiny inch between the empty air and that strange and malevolent haze.
He knew the owner of that voice and surely couldn't help but be surprised by his sudden resurface.
'Step back... little boy...'
'Nihilir... that thing is real?! What's going on?!'
Clearly, the young man was communicating only inside his mind with Nihilir, but his abrupt reaction caused the old man before him to speak up.
"Ohi... what are you doing?"
'You should never touch it with your eyes technique active... never!!'
'Fine...' Atlas hummed internally and then came up with an excuse for the other guy who was staring at him strangely, "Mhm... my bad... I thought there was truly something strange around you, but I was wrong. This horrendous place is affecting me more than I expected."
"Mmm... indeed, the miasma in this area, even if greatly weakened, can easily affect your mind. Especially for someone as weak as you..."
Drunkum didn't find his response unnatural. Actually, he had already associated his weird actions from before with this possibility.
Looking at the young man moving away from him, the old man resumed what he was doing and gave the young man some time to reflect on the last battle and the shocking discovery.
What he didn't know was that Atlas was currently discussing with a mysterious being about him, and the problem was even more dreary than the young man had anticipated.
'So... what's going on? What was that thing? It wasn't there before at the village... How is that possible? Did you know that and still throw me toward this devilish thing?'
Atlas was genuinely angry this time and mad at Nihilir. He had told him to search for that old man, but after looking at that devious existence all over that fellow's head, he started doubting Nihilir's actions once again.
'Ohi... You can't disappear like you usually do... I won't accept that, not now. Damn, that fellow has literally my life in his hands, so give me a proper explanation for this mess!!'
'It's a curse... a powerful curse...'
Luckily, the answer came, but it was something that he didn't expect.
'A curse?!' Atlas cried out, fastening his pace and almost jumping away from the old man, 'When was he cursed?! Was I cursed, too???'
Nihilir's words echoed in his mind again.
'No, you are fine, don't worry. It happened far in the past, many years before your arrival.'
|||
While in the World of Oblivion, the young man was grappling with a shocking truth. In another world, far away from that secluded space, a burly figure appeared in front of a giant wall with countless shiny dots embedded all over its surface.
Unlike Atlas's world, this was devoid of green plains or dense forests of trees. In fact, the only thing present in that world was a long and endless expanse of rock, earth, and minerals.
"Another one has appeared..."
That burly figure had stood there unmoving for a long time, but now, his golden irises had resurfaced in the world, bringing a mighty pressure around him.
"It's been... countless years... maybe thousands... hundreds of thousands... or millions... Why another small and polished gem has appeared from there?!"
His deep voice echoed across the land, reaching far in the distance. He just uttered those words like a feeble whisper, but the power imbued in them was shocking. Indeed, after a couple of minutes passed in complete silence, several figures appeared around the burly figure.
"Master..."
"Ancestor..."
"Great Ancestor...
"Father..."
"Grandfather..."
"...."
Their voices resounded across the space, but the burly figure didn't flinch even a bit and instead kept looking at the wall in silence.
The newly formed gem stood there, sometimes shining and sometimes dimming. An anomalous reaction that caused the onlooker to react in confusion.
"Again... It's happening again... How is that possible?!"
"Ridiculous..."
"Preposterous... They stole another one of our descendants..."
"Ancestor... could it be..."
Their reactions were various, but sure, all of them shared the same thought. The only one who didn't move or speak was the same burly figure who had attracted those people.
In fact, he was still there, unmoving and in complete silence, with his eyes completely taken over by that small gem.
"What are you talking about? It's a miracle if one of us can be born again, so... don't say such nonsense."
"Hpth... that reaction is a clear proof of my remarks. So, shut up!!"
"AH... Brainless fool!!! You and your dirty mount would not end up well..."
"..."
Soon, a quarrel erupted between two middle-aged men, but no one else meddled or even reacted to them. In fact, most of them were entirely concentrated on the burly man or the newly formed gem.
For most of them, this wasn't the right time to speak over this matter, especially for the old ones around the area who knew more than anyone else other than the burly man.
As the quarrel continued, more men, women, and younglings came over and started staring at the wall in contemplation, wonder, anger, fear, and confusion.
Some even tried to stop those two from blabbering in such a sacred place, but for some reason, they didn't attempt until the end and ignored them.
Soon, the empty area in front of the wall was densely packed with people, but several steps away from it, there was a small area where the only one present was the burly man.
He stood there alone, caged in a small empty area of twenty feet.
No one dared to step in that location. Or at least that was the case until a distorted portal appeared at his side.
The closest one looked back at the strange phenomenon with astonished expressions, but they were even more nervous and elated when a figure appeared from the other side of the portal.
"Master..."
"Ancestor..."
"Great Ancestor...
"Mother..."
"Grandmother..."
"...."
Their respectful salutes echoed throughout the room, but the middle-aged woman didn't respond and approached the burly figure with a severe expression.
She moved slowly but surely, arrived at his side, and leaned over with a graceful motion.
"My dear... what is the meaning behind this?!"
"I don't know..."
Finally, the burly man's lips moved, but there was confusion in his words.
"Well... this is unexpected... did he forget our pact? Did he intentionally break his promise or..."
"Indeed... one was promised, but two were born in the end..."
The woman's eyebrows twitched slightly, seeing his calm demeanor, and spoke out what was lingering in her mind: "Indeed... We promised him only one... a single offspring... did that shameless fellow find a way to..."
The burly man lifted his hand, silencing the woman, and with a long and deep sigh, he said his last words: "Who knows? The universe has no bounds, and it's filled with mysteries. We may never see its end and never understand its boundlessness. But, sure, I demand an explanation from that fearless wanderer."