Sitting on a couch in a room that looks the same as my house from thousands of years ago, I can’t help but smile as the thought of my soul being shaped like this shows how much I long for my old home. Just as I was about to lean on the couch, I felt something wrong.
Looking around, I realize that there are doors that should not have existed in my old home. Leaving the comfort of the couch, I approach the door to open it.
“It’s better to leave that door alone, lest you want to burn to nothingness and leave me as a widow.”
Hearing a voice behind me, I suddenly stopped from reaching the door knob as I turn around to see a white-haired girl in a black dress sitting on the couch where I was previously, looking at me with a gentle smile.
Seeing her smile made me hold my breath as my emotions started stirring. Taking a deep breath, I slowly approach her with caution as the thought of her disappearing flashes through my mind.
Thoughts of her being an illusion made my heart run cold.
Slowly reaching out for her face with utmost care. The sense of her skin making contact with my finger made me flinch before slowly touching her cheeks with my hand.
Finding what I was doing amusing made her giggle as she extended her hand towards me.
“… Did you go mute after a long time?”
“… A-ah… no… sorry… I’m just… I don’t know.”
Hearing her voice clearly along with being able to touch her, the thought that I might be dead and just experiencing a hallucination crossed my mind only for her to suddenly pull me making me trip and fall in her embrace.
“Now, now. Stop dilly-dallying. You’re reverting to your young self… though not like I mind because you were cute that time.”
Hearing her talk about the past made me embrace her tightly feeling afraid that she would suddenly disappear.
“… I missed you…”
Muttering those words, tears slowly dripped down my cheek.
“I can say the same. Maybe a bit of story time now that we’re together?”
Calming down, I can’t help but chuckle at the thought of her asking for a story.
Telling her stories of my adventure and what I did for the past thousands of years, I was able to really feel what it means to relax. Stories of how I was treated as a hero, stories of how I became a monster in other worlds.
“I missed out on a lot of stuff.”
Hearing her say those words made me clench my fist as the thought of what I did started resurfacing from my memories.
Feeling a bit of pain as my cheek suddenly got pulled, I looked at her to see her smiling happily.
“Stop thinking about what you did. I already said that it was fine.”
Reaching out with another hand, she pinches both of my cheeks as she stares straight into my eyes.
Staring at her amethyst-like eyes made me admire how beautiful it is once again.
“Time for you to wake up.”
This story has been stolen from Royal Road. If you read it on Amazon, please report it
“Wai-“
“I’ll wake up properly next time, Resha.”
Moving my arms to hold her, my vision changed as I surfaced out of a liquid to see a gloomy laboratory. Noticing the strange place that I was in, I suddenly tasted an extremely bitter taste in my mouth that made me gag.
Noticing that I was in a tub full of bluish liquid, I noticed that the cracks in the shard of my soul crystal were already gone.
“Wha… what the hell?!”
“… I would ask you to stop yourself from throwing up in my laboratory.”
Entering the room with graceful steps, a beautiful woman who exudes a mature charm spoke while carrying a bottle containing a purple liquid inside.
“Seems like she’s slowly recovering some of her strength now that those parasitic worms escaped.”
Placing the bottle on the table beside the tub, she stares at the crystal on the table as it glows slightly brighter compared to the time when I retrieved it from the ruins.
For a split second, her form suddenly distorts into something unspeakable before reverting to her beautiful appearance.
“… Thank you for saving me, Shu’ath.”
“Don’t think about it. She will get mad at me if I just let you die.”
Waving me off, she went to a table as arms grew out of her back and started doing some testing with liquid that I had no idea about.
“And you should drink that elixir on the table.”
Getting out of the tub, I picked up the elixir that she left earlier without care, I couldn’t help but inspect it as the energy coming from it felt familiar.
‘An energy that looks like it contains a whole world?’
As soon as that thought passed through my mind, I immediately held the elixir with both hands.
“Shu’ath! This… This is?!”
Turning my head towards her, another hand grew out of her back as it approached me before turning into a mouth.
“The same as the fruit that you got lucky to obtain. The fruit of a fallen supreme world.”
Instead of feeling happy, it made me feel dread about the side effects once I consumed the elixir.
“The effects of the fruit will become more potent after turning it into an elixir unlike when you ate the fruit.”
“How about the s-“
“It will be much stronger just like how the effects got better.”
Gritting my teeth as the memories of rolling around the floor as my soul felt like it was being ripped apart resurfaced.
“Drink it while using your Concept of Strength. That way it will be able to strengthen you enough to use it without destroying your soul.”
“… You’re the best alchemist in the universe… can’t you lessen the effect of the side effects?”
Hearing the mouth click its tongue made me know that she was starting to get fed up. The thought of a goddess feeling fed up with me just because of being afraid to experience pain made me feel helpless.
“… Are you going to drink it or do I have to force you to drink it?”
“I-I’ll drink it…”
With the state of my body, I knew that trying to feel reluctant would only make it worse for me.
Activating my Concept of Strength, pain immediately spread throughout my body. As if that pain was not enough, I felt my soul crystal slowly getting crushed just from activating the Concept.
“NGH!
Unable to endure the pain, I can’t help but let out my voice a little bit.
Bracing myself while enduring the pain as if my entire existence was being crushed, I drank the whole bottle in one go.
Expecting for the pain to come instantly, I can’t help but brace for it only for the pain from using my Concept of Strength to disappear.
“… Shu’ath… the pai-“
Before I was able to finish asking Shu’ath, pain that I never felt before suddenly assaulted me. Trying my best to endure the pain, another wave that was more painful flooded in.
“AAAAAAAGH-!”
Not able to hold my voice through the pain, I collapsed down on the floor. Writhing on the floor because of the pain, I noticed my arm was covered in a gauntlet as the manifestation of my Concept came out without me willing it.
“… Keep enduring it, Resha. That way you will have enough strength to at least escape when you encounter one of their apostles.”
The thought of using my Concept of Lifeforce passed through my mind only for something in my soul to stop me.
Hours passed before the pain disappeared as my body weakly lay on the ground.
Questions of why I even thought of drinking what Shu’ath gave to me appeared in my mind before slowly fading as I felt too exhausted and passed out.
-Shu’ath-
Seeing Resha passed out on the floor from the pain, I can’t help but scoff at him as well as respect and approval.
Moving some of my arms to carry him back to the medicinal tub, the thought of how he was able to stay conscious from a pain that even a mad being like Uvhash can’t endure made me respect him.
The thought of how he was only an ordinary mortal when she found him made me admire her. However, even after thousands of years passed, I can’t still understand what she meant by loving him. Even the thought of her almost sacrificing her life made me question what her thoughts are. A being that would have been the pinnacle of all gods being reduced to her state because of one emotion made me confused.
Transforming one of the arms into an eye, I look at the soul crystal of my little sister as it glows dimly. A sign that she’s starting to slowly recover her consciousness.
‘He needs to recover faster.’
Checking through my clones to see if they were able to find more natural treasures that were strong enough to help him, I was once again disappointed.
‘I need to improve his body, at least strong enough to contain his full strength when he uses his materialized Concept.’
Feeling the urgency now that those parasitic worms are free, I continued my research to strengthen Resha’s body.
Arc 0: A Short Dream