[Eden has been born.]
[You have been recognised as the Master of Eden.]
The moment Ciel's words echoed in their heads, the entire island began pulling in an incredible amount of mana from the surroundings.
To those who were seeing it from outside, it looked like a tornado had suddenly formed, whipping about the river and roaring like a wild beast. But what Erta and Caelum witnessed from within was extraordinary and fantastical.
The rather barren soil of the island changed, gaining rich nourishment that it previously did not have. Grass sprouted from the earth while more and more flowers appeared.
There were only two kinds of flowers present, white lilies and red roses, so there was no variety to speak of. And yet they still gave the island an entirely different impression.
It looked mystical and inviolable, as though any sort of blemish on its verdant coat and its immaculate petals were blasphemy of the highest order.
Erta gasped in awe and yet even she did not know whether it was because of the beauty of the newly born realm or the fact that a realm was born at all.
"Cal, what happened? How did you create a new realm?"
Caelum thought about how to answer for a while. He knew how and why a new realm was created. It was instinctive and intuitive to say the least.
If he had to describe it in more detail, it would be like his body shifting its position and centre of balance down to every muscle fibre as he walked one step at a time. It was like knowing that the body requires oxygen to survive, but not acting out the process consciously. And there he found the perfect words to reply with.
"It is natural. It is the Truth."
When Erta heard this, she initially wanted to retort. How could creating a brand new realm be natural? How could it be a truth when there were no clauses that justified its existence?
Realms are far more esoteric than what one may think them to be. Realms do not exist on the same level as the rest of existence. It is a higher dimensional plane that is rooted on the fundamental laws that created it. And in order for a Realm to even be created, it required deep comprehension or the crystallisation of the fundamental laws of existence.
Not many know of such laws nor are there many who even recognize their existence. And there are even fewer who know of their true name: Firmaments.
When Erta's thoughts reached this point, she was suddenly hit by a realisation that shook her to her very core. She wondered if it was even a good idea for her to tie Caelum to herself, not because of the danger he presented, but because she would ultimately just be a burden to him.
Caelum, noticing Erta's silence and weird gaze on him, thought that his answer was probably not enough for her.
He too understood the gravity of creating a Realm. In fact, if this event had not happened, he would be thinking just like her. The concept of a Realm was already at the pinnacle of divinity. But that was why, now that he had created his own Realm, he knew it was completely natural and inevitable.
So he sent his thoughts to her. Immediately, Erta was flooded with a simplified version of Caelum's comprehensions. He knew she would not be able to withstand his full comprehension, not because she was weak of mind, but because comprehension is a deeply personal and spiritual matter.
It was one thing to tell others your interpretation of a poem, but it was an entirely different matter to tell them the thought process that went into deciphering its nuances, symbolisms and metaphors, and relating it to your own existing understandings of the world.
Erta, however, felt as though she had been plunged back into that dreadful memory she saw from Caelum. It was like she was in the Imaginary Space yet again, staring at the endless black glittering with memories that seemed to twinkle before erupting into a cacophony of tragedy.
She felt her heart tighten. She did not want to experience it again, but for some reason, Caelum had dragged her back into it. She could not even leave despite being aware that it was nothing more than a dream.
And then she saw it, the very thing that Caelum saw.
It was not the rupture of the life he once led. No, this… this is natural.
The stars were not his memories that burst into a billion motes of light, evaporating from the deepest recesses of his mind. That was simply a metaphor, an impression brought about by the madness of existence that is Chaos.
The stars were always meant to be born and were always destined to die, much like mortals. It was only the ubiquity of their perishing contrasted greatly with the eternity that he had spent within that trance that he had attached each star with a memory, each burst with their banishment, each mote of light with their vacancy.
And yet, this too was natural.
The tree that seemed to carry the blackness up high reflected majestically in the still waters of the obsidian ground. And the kaleidoscope of the beyond created the perfect dynamic symmetry of the below.
The whole world was a canvas. Chaos was the paint. And Serenity was the painter who brought it all to perfect harmony. It did not matter how mad existence had become for there is always a method... a Reason to the madness. The Truth lay in existence itself.
When Erta finally understood this, she sighed in relief. Now she knew why Caelum was still grateful to the Imaginary Tree despite his deep resentment toward it. And it felt like she had finally taken the next step to understanding her husband.
"Congratulations, Cal. So what laws created this realm?"
"There's at least two, but I can only clearly feel one at the moment: Truth."
The moment he said the word, the crimson moon above them seemed to tremble in excitement. But before it could do anything, it calmed again, only releasing a greater concentration of pale red light that filled their bodies with a new power and purifying their very souls.
Erta was rightfully surprised since her aspects were the very definition of purity, or at least she thought so. What could possibly be impure about her soul? But Caelum felt differently.
This purification was not meant to signify the impurity of their souls and their bodies. It was meant to lift the invisible shackles that they themselves had never noticed before.
In fact, Erta still has yet to realise this while Caelum only managed to do so because the scarlet light seemed to tell him so. His own bare soul was whispering to him of this very simple Truth.
"Don't worry about it. There's nothing wrong with you. It was just helping you out a little. More importantly, we should get to Halo now that we're done here."
Erta nodded, fully trusting his words. They have not forgotten their purpose at all. In fact, they were even grateful that they managed to arrive in Aegon so quickly.
The two immediately shot into the sky and headed straight for Halo. Erta had already messaged Margaret about their situation so she would not need to wait for them.
Although she was sure that the Crown Princess would probably be pouting from being left alone, it was not really a problem since they were in a hurry. And Margaret really needed a good rest which she would not be able to have if she were to force herself to entertain them during the flight back.
When the two arrived in the vicinity of Halo, they noticed the heavy atmosphere right away.
They could easily tell the scale of the battle that happened through the damages left scattered throughout the area. Some broken patches of the road here, a couple of destroyed storefronts there.
It seemed that most of the emergency cleanup had been long done as there were no injured people about. But they were certain that such a battle would not have ended cleanly. Just because they could not see them did not mean that there were no casualties, no corpses carried away.
They landed in front of Halo. The entrance that was already fixed once after the simulacrum attack was once again destroyed.
Though it had been cleaned up and there were no obstacles to the flow of people, it was still just a skeleton of what it once was. Surprisingly, the café that Erta really liked was among the few to have survived with little to no damage at all.
But neither Caelum nor Erta could celebrate. Their eyes have long locked onto the figure of a middle-aged man who limped on one leg while waving his remaining arm weakly as he greeted the two.
"I'm glad to see you're back safe and sound, my lord, my lady. My apologies, but I cannot bow anymore without falling over. Please forgive me."
Reynor had lost two of his limbs.