A tiny theater with a small play in a stuffy room. At present, a number of people were stuffed inside. Truly calling it a theater was a bit much.

To most that actually went to theaters, this would be an insult to the craft. Not only were the actors onstage not dressed well, the level of the play was too far below anything worth paying for. Though, this didn’t mean people weren’t going to watch.

In theory, it was true for a high class gathering. This wasn’t that, the people inside were not wealthy. Actors on stage weren’t what would be seen on a large stage. While some of the actors might find this degrading or unbecoming. A play that wouldn’t help them progress in their careers.

To others, this was the best stage. A place one came and paid what little they had. To find a form of entertainment. Since the people inside were not high class, the story as such wasn’t of such. Instead, roles that felt real, not something only found between sheets of paper.

The actors had to play real people. Someone that could be in the audience, someone they had met, someone they knew, or even a person very much like themselves. An impactful story had nothing to do with what level of production, cast, or price tag.

Far from this theater was a man sitting on a stump atop a hill. He was looking in the direction of that tiny theater with a smile on his face. When those in the small theater laughed, he laughed. A gasp from the audience would be met with a look of surprise. No matter the distance, this man appeared to be enjoying the play.

At the moment, there was a ripple of mana behind him. The man didn’t turn around and continued to stare in the direction of the very distant theater.

Leo found himself on some distant hill. He knew this to be true, as he felt incredibly weak. Akin to having the ground ripped out from under him, he was currently in free-fall. If not for the person in front of him, the one responsible for creating him, creating that door. He would have been extremely freaked out by this weak feeling.

Finally, the play had come to an end. Or maybe, he finally noticed there was someone behind him. With a wave, the ground beneath Leo finally felt real again. Even though he knew nothing had really changed. That weakness and powerlessness that made him feel like he could disappear, was gone.

“Why are you here?” Even after asking this he also had a strange expression matching that of Leo, “No, I mean why are you here so soon? I didn’t expect you to reach out for a very long time.”

He had been alive as long as Elizabeth, the Will of the World. The being credited, by his own hands, as the creator of this very world. A few months didn’t mean much. He had once slept for a few thousand years.

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Seeing as Leo had no interest in chatting with him, he frowned. Turning around, he started to look in another direction. Time had little point to him. It wasn’t just power that allowed him to be this way. He could easily turn around, and find something to entertain himself with.

As much as he wanted to work with Leo, he understood that their relationship was strained and may never recover. Only once time passed would he be ready. Not to make up, he had given up on that. He had seen the things written down inside that prison.

Leo never had the power in the journey, to understand the power at his fingertips back then. Possibly because he had a fractured soul, he was not right in the head. For that reason, he could sort of understand portions of what was written.

A single word could have many different meanings. It was also possible to see from context that what he said many times didn’t even have a word to go with it. What Leo had put into those walls were not words to begin with, they were pure feelings.

“I want the power that I have lost.”

Focusing back on the present, Izic turned to look Leo in the eyes. He was silent for a bit before sighing, “That isn’t possible.” Before he could get confused or misunderstand, “What I mean is, the power you had back then was enough to rival both Elizabeth and me. While you didn’t understand the power you had. That could be seen by the fact that you destroyed yourself by trying to use the full extent of it to open a door.”

His eyes rolled back and forth, Leo waited patiently for him to continue, “Best way to put it, what you did was like doing what your old world did with space travel. Imagine, if you will, you were in space, and you needed to come back to Earth. Therefore, you flew into the atmosphere and landed in the ocean. Your method was like belly flopping from space.”

With squinted eyes, Leo had trouble imagining such a scene, “What does that have to do with getting that power back?”

“Power, takes time. You had no way to tell time, therefore you have no idea how long you were down there. While theoretically, it is possible for you to regain that power. Now that you’re outside, time actually has a value again. So I am assuming the reason you are willing to deal with me is because of her.”

The silence answered him, “To regain that type of power, she would have died a very long time ago. Let alone the fact that you have destroyed the vessel, I have already created for you. It will never work the way it did back then. Though it is possible to slowly regain that power, the time it would take will take vastly longer.”

With a frown, Leo couldn’t help but ask, “So, can’t you just transfer me to a new vessel?”

With a sad look, “I wish. Not even Elizabeth knows this. My experiment ended in failure. While I made a vessel, it wasn’t very good. At least not until you entered it. That space, where all those runes were etched. That was not something I could do, I can create life, but I can’t create souls. That, is something only the universe can do.”

Seeing the frown on Leo’s face, he didn’t hold back, “It isn’t very hard to create a vessel. Even the human body or another being's body can be created. There were fragments of memories from you that hinted that your old world was close. However, they were a few steps short. Even still, they would have failed. Even I don’t know exactly why the universe sent you here. That is the real reason you were sealed.”