Verum stared at the little girl, at his supposed savior.
“Greetings, miss, are you the one that teleported me here?”
Verum expected an answer, but he received none In response.
‘Hmm, did she not understand me? I swear there was a link established when I casted [Unworthy]. It should automatically let us understand each other regardless of language or range.’ Verum thought to himself.
After an awkwardly long moment of silence, the girl finally spoke.
“Do. You. Know. Kaito?” She asked slowly, as if she is only starting to learn her first language.
“….who?” Verum responded “Was that your master? Is he the one that saved me?”
The girl frowned, “Answer. First.”
“No, I do not think I know of a fellow named Kaito.” Verum said unbothered by the rudeness of this human.
“I see.” The girl said “ I lost. Memories. I want to. Kill Kaito.”
Verum couldn’t care less about her grudge with him, ‘If he isn’t the one that saved me then I do not give a dead man’s ass about it.’
He does whoever find her memory problems quite interesting.
With the exception of Verum himself, any person would lose all their memories upon becoming undead, they would then be only left with a single goal in mind, which was the person’s wish or desire before dying. Rumors even say that the first ever undead desire was the craving for eating the brain of the smartest being of all time, which honestly sounds like a made-up fairytale.
The girl’s circumstance is extremely similar to becoming undead, but being able to be affected by his [Heal] means that she is technically alive.
‘Maybe her revival skill was an ability that made her revive and become both human and undead? Or maybe she just lost her memories overtime, or it could be both. Speaking of which, I probably shouldn’t call her miss or little girl anymore.’
“What is your name.” Verum demanded in a cold steady voice.
The girl did not answer for a moment as if she is searching for it in her head, then, she finally said her first complete sentence.
“I don’t know.”
‘Should have expected that.’ Verum thought.
“Then what shall I call you?” He asked calmly.
“Call me……anything.” The girl answered.
“Are you sure?” Verum asked again to confirm.
The girl simply nodded.
He thought about it deeply. On one hand, he is tempted to name her something silly as a joke to lighten the mood, on the other hand, he could make this into a more formal relationship considering what he plans to do with her in the future.
Verum then remembered his past relationship with his subjects.
‘I should really drop the habit of being casual, I am equivalent to a god for heaven’s sake! It’s all my subordinate’s fault for treating me like a drinking buddy than their boss.’
After a few more seconds of silence, he finally came up with a good name for her.
“Seraphine” he said “That would be your name.”
The girl, now Seraphine, seemed satisfied at his decision.
“Does it have. Meaning?”
She may have been hallucinating it, but she thinks the floating ghost skeleton seemed to be embarrassed when he scratched the back of his skull.
“Its uhhh…” Verum hesitated “It’s the name of someone I used to be with.”
“Lover?” Seraphine asked.
“No not lover” Verum quickly refuted, shaking his hands in refusal. He then looked up, recalling a memory from a long forgotten time, “It was a friend, she used to be my companion when I was alive. Even after death, her heart refused to give in to hatred.”
“…” Seraphine did not respond.
“Don’t be sad though. Before she passed away, she left me her book, I kept it with me until now, though I think it only has one page left…”
Knowing how much the name must have meant to him, Seraphine smiled.
“Thank you” She whispered.
“What’s that?” Verum asked.
“Nothing.”
----------
“Forest?” Seraphine wondered as she exited her old home.
Outside, the sky is about to change from dawn slowly to the dead of night, though it is at least still bright enough to see.
All around her was gigantic trees, seemingly about hundreds of years old, the ground is absolutely healthy with grass, almost covering a gravel road that led to this house.
Seraphine raised an eyebrow. The house seemed related to her, but the surrounding gives her no sense of familiarity whatsoever. She assumed it must have been completely different in the past.
“Follow?” She asked the ominous ghost. She held no animosity toward the weird skeleton, and it wouldn’t hurt to have a friend.
“Hmm? Oh yes, I will follow you, and in case you forgot, you still haven’t asked my name yet.” The skeleton reminded her “ My name is Verum Mors, and I am mostly known as The Finality, the creator of-“
“Okay” Seraphine answered and walked along the dense forest floor with nothing but the vague trail in front of her.
It wasn’t easy to say the least. Walking for a few minutes already made her bare feet itch, the bushes keep on tangling themselves to her dress that created more rips, and the large roots of various different trees made her go around them many times. Verum seemed to find it easy considering he only needed to pass through them like air.
“So, what realm are you?” Verum asked like a child pretending like he didn’t care. Seraphine guessed that this realm thing must either be something personal or important for him to act like that.
“Realm? Is it..” she paused, trying to find the right word in her head, “strength?”
“You really lost a lot of your memories huh.” Verum retorted.
They then came across another tree blocking the path.
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“I’ll tell you on the other side.” He said as he went through their current obstacle.
‘Annoying.’ she thought, then saw that the tree was looking a little weird, as if it latched onto something big.
As she walked around, Seraphine found a wooden structure, too old to be recognized, but just enough for her to see the old wheel attached on the side, ‘Probably a…..what do you call it? Marriage? Carriage?’
“Anyways.” Verum said, popping out from the structure and giving her a little heart attack. “In the simplest terms, realms are jumps in strength that exponentially improve every aspect of your being. From getting physically stronger to literally being able to resist the laws of space and Time. So as to not overwhelm you, I will only reveal the first six realms, which is Core formation, Core manipulation, Core perfection, Star formation, Star manipulation, and Star Perfection. Core perfection is divided into ten ranks, Core manipulation, Core perfection, and Star formation are nine ranks each, and….”
Upon figuring out that its not something she cared about, she half listened to Verum ramble about the irrelevant topic and occasionally nod in acknowledgment, she then noticed a peculiar shape below the previous tree she went past to.
After a moment of hesitation, she decided to approach it with caution.
Fortunately, it was just a handmade rock in the shape of an arch that reads ‘Jerald Grim’.
“It’s a tombstone.” Verum replied after seeing her gaze.
“Familiar ” Seraphine answered, ‘Jerald Grim…Do I know who he is?’
“Are you crying?” Verum asked in a rather awkward voice.
Seraphine did not realize it, but her body seemed to subconsciously shed a tear upon hearing his name.
“Interesting.” was her only reply.
“Should I reanimate him for you?” Verum asked respectfully, “I can convert dead people into undead with memories intact. It could help you figure it all out.”
Logically speaking, it would be the most optimal choice for her to agree to his suggestion, but some part of her wants to keep it as it was, like disturbing this old forgotten relic would be an unforgivable act.
Eventually though, she decided to deny his offer.
Verum nodded “If that’s your decision, I will respect it, however, this decision will be mine. Its also a good time to explain about abilities to you.”
He stretched his hand, touched the tombstone and said “[Deaths Desire]”.
Suddenly, Seraphine could hear a scratching noise beneath the grave, then she saw a skeletal hand go through the dirt, then a head, and the entire body. What emerged was a dirty, fragile skeleton, who looked like it just got ran over by a horde of horses, looking around in bewilderment.
Verum then touched the skeleton and said “[Unworthy]”, turning it from a bamboo looking thing to a genuine threat. Not only was the dirt cleansed, but it also grew more bones and wore it as if it was his skin and protective armor. It also grew much taller, now even comparable to the size of the carriage from earlier. The eyes, which was once empty, had a red dot in the middle like a furiously burning flame.
It kneeled at Verum like it was a soldier welcoming its king, it looked rather majestic.
“The two things I just said are called abilities” Verum explained, snapping Seraphine back into reality. “After a person goes through a realm, they could acquire an ability. It is not immediate, and would only appear if the person itself experiences something that defines their life during that realm. For example, I acquired [Unworthy] when one of my most trusted friend betrayed me for power. Even if I experience it again, I won’t get another ability until I go through another realm.” He said ever so casually like it wasn’t something that would have changed a person forever.
“The most common age a human usually gets their first ability is at 15, though there are some exceptions.” He admitted while pointing at her.
“Me?” Seraphine wondered.
“Indeed” he explained in a rather jovial tone “A person doesn’t just die and revive out of nowhere you know. Not to mention that the only explanation that I was saved is because you had an ability that is related to me in some way. My guess is that it helps the user in reviving itself by using a specific method, and I happen to be part of that method, which forcefully teleported me when I couldn’t resist, and it happened to be the time I was at my weakest.”
Seraphine could tell from the tone that the ghost loved learning about abilities, but it does pique her interest what she has.
“How do I. Know?” She asked calmly.
“Easy.” he responded “All you have to do is draw a system circuit”
Seraphine continued to stare at him.
“Oh right, your new at this.” He sheepishly said. “Il tell you how to draw the circuit, and I just want you to touch it while I control your energy.”
With his instructions, Seraphine used a stick to create a closed circle on the dirt with a star inside touching at all points, she then had to draw specific shapes and symbols on each gap within the circle.
“Believe it or not but there is a completely different study of circuits called ‘alchemy’. Too bad it’s not something I’m knowledgeable at.” He rambled as Seraphine struggles to perfectly create the last few symbols on the circle.
After a good thirty minutes, Seraphine finally finished the system circuit.
“Okay now place a finger in the middle of the star and close your eyes.”
Upon closing her eyes, Seraphine felt his cold hand go through her back, then, she had a weird sensation, like having goosebumps all over your body that is moving to every direction.
She doesn’t like that feeling.
“Don’t resist it idiot” Verum complained.
After some time, she got used to the feeling and finally let her ghost friend do the job.
“Now open them” Verum said.
Upon laying her eyes on the world. She saw what seemed to be a panel that explained In great detail everything about her body and soul.
“Do you see it?” he asked excitedly. “Only the person who supplied the energy can see the system panel so you have to tell me what you see.”
Seraphine is sure that she isn’t suppose to tell her everything on it, so instead, she wrote down the important details on the dirt with the stick while her other hand supplies the circuit.
Name: Seraphine Species: Beast Subspecies: Human Age: 323 12 physically Realm: Unranked(0/1) Lifespan: 99(-1/day) Laws: Miracles Sustenance
Ability:
Mark of the Chosen Mark of the Devourer The Image of Evolution. Death Mark Type: Title Title Innate Chaos Event Triggered: "Will you always be my sister?" "Poor girl, gone without a chance to bloom.” "I am now one step closer to perfection." "Death will be your price to live." Effect: Grants the dominion over Miracles Grants the dominion over Sustenance Higher chance at evolving skills You have potential to be the new Herald of death. Kill your foes, absorb their lifespan, absorb their strength and make it your own. Chaos will bless you more powerful abilities for the curse of your rapidly decaying life. Upon dying, a second chance could be regained, as long as you have a body that did not decay and a lifespan that exist within your soul.
On a single glance, she could see so many things wrong with her on the screen.
First of all, her age. Seraphine may have lost her memories, but even common-sense dictates that she is way too old even as a human. The Realm section must be what Verum talked about earlier. The Laws are not something he explained yet, and her abilities are labeled by something else that looks to be the type, along with a "triggered event" for each of them. Even without a reference for comparison, she knew that she is special.
Seraphine fully expected Verum to exclaim in surprise considering the outcome of her system, but she was only met with deafening silence.
Suddenly, with barely enough time for her to lift her arms, the ever so silent skeleton that Verum reanimated swung its arm at her, sending Seraphine a few meters in the air.
She never felt so much pain before, luckily, it wasn’t aimed to kill but to incapacitate. Still, she did not have much time to figure out what happened before it stood up and lunged and pinned her to a tree, creating a massive crack on the trunk.
Seraphine, who had a hard time breathing, ignored the massive behemoth but looked at the direction of the floating skeleton that kept its eyes on the details she wrote down.
Slowly, Ominously, it turns its head, looking at Seraphine with the clear intent to kill. Smoke started to form around him that made her exceptionally weak, and his empty eye sockets somehow felt a lot more hollow.
As the last light of the sun dropped and the stars illuminated the sky, It spoke, gone the casual demeanor, replaced by a cold, ruthless interrogator.
“When did you meet the Chosen.”