For now, he will ask two more times, and when he runs out of questions he will simply keep asking. He'll repeat himself a thousand times until the other cannot go without answers, and then the third time, the second will eventually admit defeat.
'Only a god may consume a god... and take their wisdom. This will happen to both Eskra and its residents, until the land turns to ash. Everything will vanish. Even the sun will fall onto the moon...'
"Hey!" Someone shouted. "The fuck did you do to them?!" they said.
'Hmm?' Zabulus turned around, only to be faced with an angered Vetro. 'Oh, its, just the idiot and the little one, but something's off with them. No idea. No clue. Might have killed my future self, yeah...'
"Answer me, you scum! I don't care who, or why, or for what, answer me!!" he shouted and ranted at the figure. His vision wasn't his best, he wasn't even looking at the man's face, let alone the colour of the skin, not to mention his hair. He didn't notice his figure properly.
Zabulus did not answer, he looked at Vetro's face, emotionless and static as he stepped forward with a pensive attitude towards his demands and queries.
"What are you afraid of?" Asked Vetro.
"..."
"Answer the damn question already! Are you deaf!? Stupid!? Come on!" Vetro became louder.
'Oh no no, I didn't die and kill a random man, and I just spent hours digesting and remembering stuff, no, nothing happened. I can't remember...'
"Is it loneliness?"
'No.' Then what was it?
"What was it that made you this way?" The conversation's angry atmosphere changed into something more like pity and sorrow. "Are you a monster that acts like a person? Or a person who acts like a monster?
'Is there a difference?' No answer. No matter what questions were asked, no response came back from Zabulus. 'Neither is the case, though there is only one...'
Vetro stood in silence. Just how much pain have you experienced? "How... How much have you only known desolation and terror and isolation and emptiness? A hole that only grew larger, is that what you are? Is that why you continue to subsume the soul? Because you fear the loneliness? The feeling of having nothing within you but this sense of evilness, of being able to do evil. And doing it without hesitation, that is what makes you act in such a manner? What could it possibly be?"
"You have seen my life. I killed Anne, your child. I thought you knew everything, much like I did. Vetro... I spare you for reasons unknown to me. So please, no longer dare think it wise to treat me like a mortal or a youngling who cannot fend for myself. What can I say about the kid and the blonde girl here besides that they are important?" His response was akin to a lamb who wanted to die, with a mouthful of saliva mixed with his blood, or something else. But a defiant reply had to suffice for such a situation.
"I don't know anything about you... I only knew what I wanted to understand, I only saw you for evil, and evil is what you are. Yet, as we stand, I see a man that is no different than myself." A lamb who was already close to being torn and ripped apart... by its own actions. "Is there something else, that's always been inside you? You can't tell me the reason, can you?"
"Something else? Is that the right words, perhaps, there was not always this thing inside. I never intended to..." He stopped his sentence short. "In order to get to know myself and all the secrets I carry, I did a deed." Though he thought a thing that would not reach Vetro. "Perhaps it is indeed that which will bring eternal life, a guarantee of the future, is that something that a deity cannot possess, or has it been left behind and forgotten? What do I know about all these gods?" He asked, perhaps himself, or Vetro.
"Why are you so... obsessed with the gods, is that why you do what you do? Is it because you believe immortality will make you wiser? What about power then... if it's the latter, wouldn't the king of the world surpass every god and everything, becoming some form of new divinity himself? Why do you want the gods gone, if they are a lower power than you?"
"Because... I..." He hesitated, as he always did, placing a hand on his empty eye socket. "I didn't deserve this... I will not speak further, though." The empty socket leaked the tar, dark ichor, a dark blue hue. "All these 'gods' do not exist, just a cycle that exists, they're all a part of this world! I speak nothing but the truth, I do!"
"You do not fear your memories, but instead of what lies ahead and what has happened, which is clear in the present. Whatever memory you carry has brought you to this conclusion of a 'perfect world', isn't it?"
"No... you are mistaken... I could never come to this conclusion alone... nor will anyone or anything."
"Well, do you want me to say that I think that you're crazy then?"
"If that's what you truly think... then no. I want no such thing, only one other must judge me for it." His words came out of his mouth hollow, an obvious thing. A fact was this, an incontestable truth that anyone with basic awareness will accept it for the way things are.
The environment around them soon dissipated and the scene of Zabulus' home materialized. No doors, no walls. Just a cold, endless space filled with nothing but black and white. This was their end for now, so who was right?
Zabulus sighed, placing his hand over his eye sockets as if in shame, or to hide tears. "I'll believe it all... all, as I always do. ....'s.... I'll be gone now. Be sure to give my regards to her, when she wakes up. She did a pretty good job on hiding... yes she did..."
"Where will you be going now?"
"I'm unsure, but I know that I will face a god, I'm sure of it. Because-" His words, cut short by a cold snap that woke him up from sleep. Seems that nobody else was in control at this time.
As the hours pass, he finds Alice stirring and stretching on a rather uncomfortable floor. It appears that no damage has occurred, nor have any mental effects befallen the pair. Perhaps because neither Guillerme nor Idalia have tried to escape, if they can. He heard a whisper from within his mind, it pleaded for him, to release itself. "Wait. Not yet."
"Good morning."
Alice rubbed her eyes, sniffing the air to see if it would reek of sulfur and muck or mud, before getting up and shaking, shivering from the chill of the evening and the harsh winds and droplets of rain and snow. They were gone. She just rubbed her bare arms in response.
Why were they asleep on dirt and debris and some weird wooden stuff? Seemed as if she hadn't the faintest of thoughts. "Guil—" she yawned. "Why were we asleep here?"
"What ARE we doing here?" He responded.
She rubbed her arms and shivered, not noticing that her dress has become dirty with soil, leaving bits of grass on her shoulder. "Do you not recall anything?"
"I don't." For a moment, he paused before suddenly, a painful headache made itself known through his skull, his brain being crushed and pierced through, making his skull a thousand pieces upon the floor. As if the entire area within his mind had fallen and became a small explosion of blood, nearly blackening him.
"Are you okay? Guil... Zabulus? Stop pretending, what the heck is the point if you'll keep—"
"No... I'm just feeling unwell..." The amount of souls that were hosted in a single body were too much to handle for him at this point. It got to a point where his physical body had begun to be affected by the extra energy stored within, causing his insides to turn against themselves and decay. He fell down to his knees and clenched his stomach.
Her hands began to stretch out towards Zabulus, urged to comfort him, but it soon dropped, in fear of the consequences that she could cause if she tried. it continued, the pains did not lessen.
Her mouth twitched slightly and her gaze shifted, then dropped. She shook her head. "You... you really don't remember anything? If you don't then... we won't know." She shrugged. "Ah! Damn, forgot Laz died because of... Laz... who was that... I remember a name, but...?" She was confused at her own words and naming of a person who did not exist.
"Whom did you speak of, Alice? This name of which you seem to have forgotten, the name that is still there on your lips and in your heart," He groaned, before continuing, "do you recall it? Do you not?"
"N-no, I think we met a child somewhere along the line." She began. "No, no... uh, heh... No, no we didn't meet any children, it was..." The silence then grew tense. And her hand shook, seemingly without an idea. "Not here, not... here... no... yes. There, is what I'm thinking, yes." She stood up and wiped her face with a sigh, a quiet noise escaped her lips and a fluttering breeze passed through her cheeks and her cheeks started to color a brighter crimson hue. "Gu...Gwahaha." Her eyes had widened, her irises grew bright blue, an ethereal to them both. She laughed and laughed, a memory that no longer existed. Was it forgotten, or merely unimportant? It didn't matter... "Maybe we just had some issues, don't worry. It's okay to forget."
They remained silent, no sound but a distant rumbling could be heard. As the moment passed, they felt it, a sensation of intense danger that something bad was about to happen, something so godly yet mundanely monstrous was occurring before them, even more so for this existence, whatever it was. But the knowledge wasn't within them.
"Something will occur in a moment, a disruption. Nothing dangerous, of course, so please remain calm." Zabulus said. But Alice was completely calm. She had no worries about what would occur as she had trust in her strength, in her ability to protect Zabulus; Guillerme's host.
The sky grew dark from the previous blue hue that it once was, the clouds parted, a twinkling starlit heaven descended. It was no longer as sunny or cheery as the forest would have been, the sky grew colder, but was warm with a slight breeze that had caught them in its grasp, ruffling Alice's hair further as a gust blew by. It was... 'unusual', but in the way that made it appear as something of a miracle that should not be there, something that is not natural. As it should, all that the forest of Narshes contains is strange.
A voice bellowed, a voice of a goddess, her voice that was as strong and vibrant as ever, ringing throughout the world could be no more, only to be a prison for her and the boy. And yet, it sounded almost dissonant compared to her body's form.
She had the head of a beautiful woman, the body of a goddess. One wing in particular had been mangled and bloody. An ugly wound that will certainly become a permanent feature of her body, as her skin, her wings and flesh has been cut off and melted together to resemble the inside of a living human. 12 legs, each foot ending with the claws of a different animal, which resembled the paws of a wolf or dog, along with an entire, 600-foot long body, coated with sleek, fur that glinted auburn and glimmering gold-colored scales along her back. It was ugly, to man. A blessing, to gods.
As Alice and Zabulus moved further away from each other, the deity reached the forest and turned to the two, her large form appearing as a giant being as she glided closer from the skies above. She spoke a monologue; "Murderer of the Dragonkin, Ungraceful one, Demon of the gods. Abomination who wishes to see beyond the veil and will find out what they never wanted to know." The goddess knew that these names did fit the demon in front of her. "Never-dying... are you?" She taunted him. "Weakness."
Zabulus smiled. He knew this was precisely what was to come. Stretching all four of his forearms outwards, as if to welcome an embrace from the goddess, he let her presence through his soul. His thoughts were more distinct than ever before, each word spoken carrying a different weight as he did with Idalia's, another difference was that of an innocent one, to a criminal, a killer who only cared for his survival and self-preservation.
What he knew though, was not what would occur after meeting a god.
A godless man he was, even if his soul carried a host of others' wisdoms. "Come. Make me weak."
She could sense his sincerity, yet, that was not what worried her.
What worried her, was the presence that emanated from him, was his pride, his soul. Something which has gotten stronger.
"My name." The god's body went tense as the name entered her ear, resonated and flowed through the currents, causing her whole being to change slightly in terms of physiognomy and morphology, her inner form shifting with it. "Z■■■■, a pleasure."