Suta POV

Enticed by the familiar caress of darkness, Suta felt its solemn embrace gradually wrapping itself tightly around him. Of course, there was a stark contrast between that earlier feeling of absolute dread, where his entire body felt as though it was tossed into a lake of fire. To now, a sensation likened to being submerged inside a cold swimming pool.

‘Did I die?’ The thought didn’t scare him nearly as he felt it would. That was somewhat…morbid to him.

‘Wait, I can hear my thoughts. I can’t be dead, so then…’ Suta finally dared to part his eyelids apart. The fog of darkness snapped away, drawing free a slight gasp from his partially opened mouth.

“Huh?”

A strange, faraway light sat in his clear view, surrounded by tall, dark stone walls tunnelling up towards it. Suta raised his torso away and scanned his foreign surroundings. He found himself atop a stone disk-shaped platform. Unnatural darkness clung against the walls, which carried small lamps of blue fires burning in their glassed lamps.

A tomb? The potential deathly undertones made him shiver. Despite his sometimes morbid outlook on things these days, Suta certainly didn’t want to die. He half blamed the strange change of state in his attitude to harbouring the body of the original Suta.

‘This feels eerily familiar, annoyingly much so. And what’s the obsession with going to sleep and waking up in strange places? ‘

There was a real chance this might’ve been down to his own doing again. So naturally, he feared the worst. Without a second thought, he swiftly held out his palm and sat on the cusp of attempting to conjure his badge again. But an unexpected, delicate-sounding voice startled him from behind.

Suta twisted around urgently, finding a strange, serene-looking figure in the middle of the stone-tiled floor. Her lavishly blue hair cascaded down her pure white bones. She was seated in the lotus position in the middle of this circular stoned platform. Suta’s brow knitted tightly together. An air of familiarity surrounded the strange beauty that seemingly appeared out of the air. Suta felt awkward staring at the delicately looking girl's lithe body. She was noticeably barely clothed, but his attention was swiftly swayed by an array of strange golden runes wrapped down her slender arm. He felt a terrible premonition regarding exactly where he was currently standing.

That foggy memory soon resurfaced, and the crazy-looking girl trapped in chains appeared in his thoughts.

‘Sigh, I’m back here again, aren’t I.’ He briefly massaged the bridge between his eyes before taking another lasting look around the space.

‘Although this doesn’t look like that weird foggy space I was in before, thankfully, there aren’t any doors here either. Shit, Suta, did we finally die?’ he thought distressingly.

Unable to clear his mind free from those dark thoughts, he started to inspect his body thoroughly. Suta found no wounds, strange scars, or seals. He checked his backside; no tails. “Phew.” But then he remembered something and slowly crept his hand above his head. He started to wave around it, suggesting he was hoping nothing was floating above his head.

“Ok, good, no halo.” Feeling a little more relaxed now, he trailed his gaze back towards the girl seated a little away from where he stood. She hadn’t moved a single inch since he realised someone else was beside him. Her eyelids remained tightly pressed, and her strange stillness drew Suta’s intrigue. Unsure whether she was alive or asleep.

He shuffled his feet carefully towards her, holding his heels every few steps in case she woke up.

‘Is she sleeping?’ He wondered, inspecting the eerie crypt again out of curiosity.

‘Strange place to sleep, however you put it. Anyway, wasn’t there a little girl somewhere around here?’ Suta remembered that cute, round-faced shorty with red eyes. She was creepy, but since she spoke to him without turning into any wailing monster or disaster. Suta didn't place her in the same category he put the other mysterious terrors he encountered.

‘What was her name again.’ He pondered to himself, and after a short while, he pulled away from his thoughts.

“This is…” Suta drew even closer to the seated beauty in contemplative wonder. Standing so close to her, he was assured that she was the girl from that dark, foggy expanse—the girl with crazy eyes who tried to attack him. And he suddenly remembered the words he spoke at that moment. For some reason, he felt slightly embarrassed about that.

“Tsk! At least give me time to fulfil that promise before bringing me back here.” He vexed himself half-heartedly. Suta truly believed what he vowed to do then, but he wasn’t given a whole day to sit with things before he was forced to survive that hellish jungle.

'She doesn’t look as disoriented and bothered as before. Unless, this a trick.’

An air of caution frightened Suta into a softer approach. He tiptoed with cautious footsteps, tracing one of the embroiled rings wrapped around the stone sphere in a circle, almost expecting something troubling to arrive. Thankfully, all seemed somewhat peaceful.

‘Hm, looks safe enough.’

Suta understood his uneasiness stemmed from confusion, but still, “Maybe I’m overthinking.” He sighed under his breath and relaxed his shoulders.

A soft moan filtered into his ears when he was poised to walk away. Suta was startled inordinately and took a few steps back. His slightly rattling eyes examined the beautiful girl again. Her eyelids gently folded up, and two sets of elegantly poised lashes flew away like a great winged creature. A swash of scarlet encapsulated inside those two perfectly almond-shaped balls.

Suta felt his heart skipping a beat. He frowned at himself because of that. This wasn't the time to be star-struck by a beauty.

‘What's wrong with me?’ He questioned before patting down the loose wears around his chest area. The familiar-faced girl drew an air of curiosity around her. She glanced at her surroundings with a measured alertness. There wasn’t any wasted movement in her ways; she moved elegantly and much otherworldly in Suta's eyes.

Her eyes shifted forward as she finally placed her expressionless gaze upon him. Her veal-coloured lips parted in surprise, but she held her words. Suta felt more uneasy again when her perfectly shaped mouth creased into a gentle smile.

“So you’ve finally found me. My ???? Heart.”

‘Huh? Why did her voice…distort like that?’ That weird sound Suta heard was troubling enough to draw his footsteps away a little further. The girl blinked a few times in response and merely observed him with an innocent look. Suta was stirred too much by curiosity to remain quiet. After clearing his throat, he took the reins quickly.

“Ah-erm…where are we?” Surprisingly to even himself, that was the first question on the tip of his tongue. There was a brief pause before that sweetly dangerous smile of hers appeared again.

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

“You can call me Celina. And we are in my resting place. My memories are quite foggy, but I know two things for certain: I believe I have been imprisoned, and this place is located deeper north. Near a place called Ougovilaba.” She said as a matter of factuality.

“Wha? And where is that?” Suta asked in response. He knew better than to attempt to pronounce that strange-sounding word.

“Erm, oh-right. In Demon territory. A few 100 miles away from the capital.” Said Celina, raising a single dainty finger in the air.

Suta almost choked hearing that. “W-w-wait, d-demon territory? He-heh- you sure you’re not mistaken?” He chuckled nervously. Her cute expression remained unchanged, beholding him still in the same manner a child stared at a curious, long-lost member of its family.

“Ougovilaba, I’m quite certain.” She affirmed.

Suta needed a moment to take it all in.

‘No way, there’s no way I did it again, did I? Did I teleport across the damn world again? No-no-surely not, Suta. This power is crazy, but there are limits, no? Heh, this is me going crazy again. A dream, it’s all a dream. I must be dead, to be honest. Yeah, that’s it…I lost, and now I'm here.’

“You seem troubled?” A delicate voice flowed into his ears during his mild panic

“Oh, do I?” He almost laughed sarcastically. ‘You don’t even know the half of it.’ He sighed under his breath before brushing aside the loose strand of dreadlocks away from his face.

“Besides that, I remember you—very well, actually—so why are you acting like you’ve never met me before?” There was a slight tinge of annoyance in his tone. The growing annoyance of all of this was taking its toll on his mind. He watched her delicate eyelids fluttering without any natural shred of emotion within them. After a short silence, a slight knowing smile freckled against her features.

“Oh, I see. You’ve already met…them. Fufu, Little Cel and the heartbroken Celine? They are my…broken…wills.” She said softly.

“Broken wills?” Suta repeated deeply confused. The girl pleasantly bounced her gracefully blue helm.

‘For goodness sake.’ Suta rubbed his temple in disbelief,

'Celine, Celeste and now…Celina? What kind of sordid joke is this? Damn it! Enough of all this, I need to get out of here and find Verdi.’

He buried his true thoughts deeper into the pitch-black chasm in his mind. He scanned the strange stone wall again, looking for a possible way out of this place. That tall tower climbing way above looked like his likely escape.

“Say C-Celene –“

“Celina!” She corrected him with a surprised abruptness. Suta sensed that perhaps she realised his intentions.

“Right—right, Celina, easy mistake. Say! How do I leave this place?” He queried with an eagerness not missed against his tone,

“Leave?” She asked, a little stupefied, before drawing a mischievous smile.

“You leave the same way you arrived, my heart.”

Suta froze on his heels. He felt an uncomfortable itch crawling against the back of his neck.

“Great, so you’re just as creepy as that girl in chains, then? What did you call her? Celeste was it. Nice, it's great to know we’re keeping up with the theme that everyone is insane.”

When he heard her suddenly laughing in a childish manner, Suta inwardly thought she sounded cute, but he quickly dispelled those thoughts after it continued longer than he thought necessary.

“Fo-forgive me; I can't say I've laughed like that in…well, ever! Say, my heart, what compels you to seek freedom so much? When you can remain here, with me?”

She asked plaintively. Suta felt his heart stir again, but the moment he even dared entertain such a thing, the vision of his Mom's smile moments before she was dragged into that portal filled his mind. Suta shook away the stupid thoughts, wearing a noticeable sterner mask as he lowered his gaze again towards the seated girl.

“I have people counting on me. I have to save them and bring everyone they’ve taken from me back home. And stop calling me your heart!”

“Why does that offend you? You are my heart. As I am yours?”

Sutas glare remained fixed against her plain expressionless gaze. Those bright almond-shaped scarlet eyes filled him with nothing but uneasiness. None of these things made any sense to him. What was the connection between him and this strange girl? And although he tried his best to avoid seeking exactly who Cel, Celine or whoever was. He understood some things were probably unavoidable. He vaguely recalled the little girl, Cel, rambling on about missing hearts and freeing that caged girl he met before in the foggy realm.

‘I don't even know anything about the original Suta…sigh. This is getting so complicated.’

He took a few moments to gather his thoughts and emotions. Being angry or allowing himself not to think carefully would only make things worse. He knew that, but he had never been placed in such a terrible situation before. His only real option was to listen, understand, and act accordingly.

‘Fine, I guess I should play along then.’ He decided

Suta released his nose bridge and exhaled cool air. His gaze noticeably softened before his lips parted.

“Ok, first tell me about this business between Celine and Cel. I don’t understand any of it. How come you’re here, and they’re…wherever it was that place was.”

Celina observed him in silence at first. Suta still felt awkward being stared at with those ominous scarlet eyes, even more so since her round face was completely devoid of emotion.

After a lengthy pause, her serene gaze behaved as though she felt something in the air. Her eyes hung towards the sky, staring dreamily into the empty air.

“I foresaw it…” she whispered

“Huh-what did you say?” Suta voiced

“I…” her voice trailed into a whisper, and not long after that, her scarlet gaze trailed back down.

“We are… one. The three of us, as though we grew from the same branch. Our wills are uniquely our own. But, we are one and the same.”

“H-how is that even possible?” He asked, still trying to make some logical sense of it all. The deeper he fell into this pit of darkness, the more confusion surrounded him he found. Somehow, this strange new world and all the powers encapsulated within were one endless riddle.

“Who is…the real one?” Suta couldn’t help but ask, using the very frail connections with the truth he could make

“Who knows…at this point.” She shrugged her bony shoulders before her gaze slightly lowered dejectedly.

Suta never missed a single cue from her, watching her expression change beneath her thoughts as he drew several parallels to Ringo for some strange reason.

“Do you know of the three variants that make up a life?” her watery voice sang. Before Suta had a chance to respond, her voice filtered into his ears again.

“The present body, the power and the mind. They say these are three separate divines but contain themselves inside of a single vessel. Celine, Celeste and Celina. The mind, the body…the power.

To the version of you now, this may mean very little. But if one desires to grow stronger, this…understanding is inevitable.”

Tiny bright holes began to pierce into the fog of darkness, clouding his thoughts slowly. Suta held onto the girl’s truth with a strange sense of believing her.

‘The mind, the body and the power.’ For some strange reason, Suta placed his situation and the original Suta’s own together.

‘If I had to guess, would I Shoba be the mind? Suta would be the body? But then…who is the power.’ Unconsciously, his gaze fell towards the beautiful girl again. Her scarlet eyes carried a strange light within them. The briefest of smiles tugged the corners of her mouth upwards. Before Suta could say anything else, he felt a soft quake beneath his feet. In fact,

“The walls are shaking?” he moved his gaze towards Celina. " What's going on now?”

Celina airily observed the narrow blue stones with little emotion against her delicate features.

“They found you. I believe you need to leave now. If they find you, then I’m afraid all will be lost.”

Suta listened to another cryptic verse and almost felt like raining profanities at her. This entire ordeal was as frustrating as it was foolish. But what could he do but continue to bear it all.

“Tsk! So what was the point…” he gritted through his teeth.

“What was the point of bringing me here?”

“Oh, I didn't bring you here, my heart. You sought out power in your final breaths. But since you are here, it's best to remind you that you are weak, my heart. And it would be best if you didn’t remain so. Things are moving much quicker than I anticipated. When Cel, Celine, and I broke away into separate wills, the purpose of doing so was on the grounds that each will would steer a chosen one towards uniting us again. But...somehow, someway...you have managed to house all three of us inside of you."

Suta's entire body shook upon hearing that. He stammered to free his words before taking another step back, which sent him falling backwards onto his backside. While scattered memories danced across his mind, he suddenly remembered something: a vision he saw of a girl with golden runes wrapped around her arm, blood-scarlet eyes, and one particular truth.

"D-d-demi...God?"

Celina's gaze lifted wide in shock.

"Oh my, it seems you know much more than you made out, *fufufu*, my heart"