Looking up at the stars in the sky. It was breathtakingly beautiful. Blanket of twinkling lights. Bright enough to shine, not bright enough to light up the darkness that was endless darkness covering the earth. Partially breathtaking due to sight, while partially due to cold. Covered in a warm embrace, she could stay this way forever. Only, nothing lasted forever, especially not happiness.
Turning up, she saw the face of an old man. Looking down at her, he smiled, “Jessica, one day we will move away from this place. You will take my last name if you’re still willing…”
“I thought you said that it wasn’t something I could handle. Something that only brings trouble.”
His smile turned warmer, “Currently, yes. Though I can always throw it away.” Looking up at the night sky, “We will come up with a family name for ourselves.”
“What about your old family?”
Looking down with an undecipherable expression, “They would understand. In fact, they would yell at me for not doing it sooner. I am just a bit reluctant to let go, however, you’re definitely worth it.”
Jessica felt a tugging, pulling her out of the darkness and cold of that winter night. Looking around absentminded, she felt lost. She didn’t know where she was. Seeing a caravan moving to their left, she was able to see they were in a field next to a road. There were a few people with weapons holding their handle as they passed her. They didn’t look at anyone else but her. There was a bit of confusion in their eyes, but it quickly passed, alongside the caravan and their whispering.
Once gone, she turned to see two people beside her. One was Leo, while the other was Izic. Currently, there were waves crashing into the seal. Not even making a slight ripple, she watched silently as the two silently confronted each other. Having never told him about Izic, it appeared he was still suspicious without being sure he was the person he believed him to be.
“Go ahead, stare away. It won’t change anything.”
“I can understand why they didn’t see me, but why didn’t they see you?”
Lighting up, he seemed to acknowledge this question, “Oh, good point. Well, that is an interesting question. Legend says that the world is made up of three types of lines. Vertical, horizontal, and diagonal. Supposedly vertical lines are fate, otherwise known as individuals. Horizontal lines make up destiny, these are generally seen as places. Things such as forests, cities, and oceans. Finally comes diagonal lines known as karma.”
Frowning, Leo couldn’t help but try to hurry him, “You’re point?”
Patiently, he explained, “You see karma, is said to tie the horizontal lines with the vertical lines together. In other words, karma ties a person to this plane of existence. For someone that lacks such ties, very few people can see me.”
“If I am to believe that, then why can we see you?”
For the first time Izic frowned, “For the same reason Jessica can see you.”
Losing his patience, “Why can’t you just say the truth instead of talking in circles?”
“Oh, well then might I ask why you keep going in circles? Is it because you don’t know who I am? Come on, that would be oh so disappointing.”
“I need to go back…” Speaking out loud without any real purpose. Her eyes were barely in focus as she looked at Izic. He could see many of the emotions she wanted to express without being able to leave her mouth.
Exhaling softly, unlike his words, “And do what? Become a hostage for your father's enemies?”
Gritting his teeth, Leo suppressed the anger deep inside, “Then why don’t you help?”
Seeing him hold back his anger, he was surprised, however he still didn’t help, “Do what? While it was nonsense, it was also the truth. Helping you gets me what? Outside of creating karmic ties to this world, it would serve me no purpose.” Pausing before looking at Jessica, “I also made a deal with your father. I promised to take you away, and make sure you can’t go back. Since he agreed to let you become the holder of my creation.”
Silence prevailed. However, there was no tranquility in Jessica’s eyes. With a heavy sigh, Jessica slowly fell to the ground as if being gently laid on the ground. “Go on and ask, I just put her to sleep to help her get through this moment. I am sure you have many questions.”
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“How did you know the language from my old world?”
“Oh, that is your first question? Interesting.”
Seemingly his only expression. Leo frowned, his face hardened as he held back many dark emotions, “Just answer the question, no more nonsense.”
“Well, you see. The first person to wield you was not Jessica but me. My experiments were all half successful. That is, including you. To ensure your soul didn’t fracture, and I know from experience. A dreadfully painful experience, and you're never completely there unless you find the missing parts and find a way to put them back together.”
Seeing the expression on Leo’s face, he returned to his first point, “I digress. In making sure nothing happened to you, I somehow created a strange connection with you. Your soul was a bit raw at that time. I’m of the belief that you were experiencing a moment between life and death. Mainly experiencing flashbacks of your life. Part of that was shown to me, allowing me enough time to learn the language as you experienced your school life.”
Again seeing his expression he quickly clarified, “Don’t get me wrong, it wasn’t like I wanted to experience it. The only way to ensure that nothing happened to your soul, I needed to stay in contact with your soul as it settled into the sword. It isn’t like you gained nothing in return.”
With his frown deepening, he couldn’t help but ask, “What do you mean by that? Besides, hell, what else did you give me?”
Pointing at him, “Hey! I never intended to seal you.” Turning to his side, he spat at the ground, “Stop hiding like a peeping tom, I am being falsely accused because of you!”
“Are you trying to say it was me who stole his soul from a divine kingdom or reincarnation? Don’t skirt your own responsibilities.” A woman with green hair appeared out of thin air, unlike before, she was not on any wooden throne. Instead, she appeared in person like another person. There was no crushing power radiating off her, she seemed increasingly similar to Izic himself.
Glancing for a second at Jessica, Leo saw that she wasn’t affected and had a slight frown on her face. He turned to look at her, before looking between the two, as if trying to determine if either of the two could be trusted.
Feeling his gaze combined with shameless glare from Izic she spoke once more, “It is true, I was the one that sealed you and the rest of the experiments. I actually never intended for you to leave. I planned to leave you in that hole in the ground until the day this world came to an end.”
Not waiting for a response, she continued, “You’re a half completed product of the universe. Different from the rest, while you were a complete soul, it doesn’t change you were never supposed to come here. You were taken away from universe itself. Souls aren’t things for the living to toy with. Just look at the byproduct produced before you. His experiments only worked by luring souls to this world.”
With both turning to look at him, he could only scratch his head helplessly, “Well, about that. Before you, all I got were soul pieces. As far as I know, there are very, very few souls powerful enough to survive a fracturing like me. As for those, they were different from me. Not necessarily powerful, souls that sinned so greatly that not even the universe was able to clean them for reincarnation. The remains are just something dark and evil. Not with any power, just pieces of these created massive tragedies.”
Sighing deeply, “Only later did I find out the repair feature I believed to be part of the experiment came from the pieces trying to repair themselves, for that reason they were sealed. Those that are still out are in the hands of those capable of sealing them themselves, or unable to affect those that hold them. Therefore, they were left alone for the time being.”
Feeling her gaze, Leo looked straight into her green eyes, he fought off the desire to shiver at their lack of any emotions. Cold and still like a lake or a deserted well, “Tell me what should I do, this is the result of things that only contained tiny pieces of a soul. While your soul is complete, while you didn’t appear to be something so unforgivable, it is only conjecture. Allowing you to live was the only ground I was willing to give.”
Even if he didn’t see any reasoning in her words, even if he did, what could he do. Neither of the two before him were innocent, however what could he do about it?
“I made a gamble, that I could find someone that could reasonably be fated to you. Searching for a very long time, I won that gamble.” Izic spoke while looking at the woman laying on the ground with closed eyes. Her brows were furrowed as if having a nightmare.
Turning to the side, both Izic and the Will of the World turned to look in a certain direction. “The fight is ending soon.” Following her words, she disappeared.
Slower to react, Izic turned to him, “Think long and hard. I removed all traces of the slips that held your diagrams. If you wish to remake the runes, you will need to work with me. Allowing me to teach you. Word of advice, take this offer. Without those runes, you will never be able to do anything, not even a tiny bit of what you so badly desired. I will also clean up your shabby runes. They need to be refined to better fit the current you.”
“You said you never wanted to create bonds of karma. I might not understand completely, but why help? Doesn’t that go against what you wanted?”
Smiling, “You’re far too young to even begin to understand this. Just think of it this way. I created you, I brought you to this world. Even if the work didn’t originally belong to me, I finished and did the deed. There is already a connection between you and me. So think long and hard.”
Seeing his troubled expression, he sighed before smiling, “Don’t hurt yourself.” Soon the smile was gone, “If you want to hurt me you will need these lessons. Don’t think too deeply about it. I have my reasons, I don’t expect you to respect or enjoy my company. Though if you truly wish to kill me, that is impossible. At least for now, by that I do mean with or without my help. Anyways think it over, I plan to go watch the fun.”
Soon he disappeared. Believing they left the two stranded randomly, he was soon pulled back into Jessica’s body. Once again, his surroundings went dark. They were once again being moved. It was impossible to know where, he couldn’t sense anything, as if he had been blocked from sensing anything but the gentle beating of Jessica’s heart.