Duality of Shadows

"FUCK! FUCK!" Both cursed at the same time, in complete disbelief and hatred.

"Isla..." Alm murmured, before roaring at the Leviathan. "How the hell does the Queen manage to take the memories?"

The Leviathan spoke quickly: "I don’t know exactly. But everyone at the immortal level can sense where the memories are. They can only be manipulated with an energy that’s almost impossible to use. However, if you break the soul and restore it, repeating this process many times with precise techniques and demonic energies, eventually fragments of past life memories start to emerge."

"What do you mean? Is it a random fragment from any life? This doesn’t make any sense." Bruno spoke flatly.

"Indeed, if it were simple, anyone could do it. But we’re talking about the Queen, and she has all the time in the world. Just take the person to a universe where time is different, and she can spend millions of years working on it." The Leviathan explained seriously.

"I heard she managed to capture the creator of that technique, and shortly before that, she captured another key figure from the past. She’s spent the last few centuries trying this, which is why she was so far from this universe. But in the end, she got part of what she wanted. Before you ask, I don’t know where or what she does after she gets it."

Alm and Bruno thought intensely. This other important person was most likely the God of the Forge. They had already discovered that his soul hadn’t been destroyed. As for the time... Isla died in that other universe, and after that, thousands of years passed as they lived as villains.

Isla had probably reincarnated somewhere, and by bad luck, was found. With the time difference between the universes, this could have happened a long time ago.

"Thanks to us, she probably made great strides in advancing the technique." Bruno said quickly, then started reading everything he received about the tattoos. After a while, he concluded, "This is basically the early levels, and there isn’t much information on how to reach the Taiji. She surely knew a lot more. So, there’s a chance she found a way to hide this..."

Bruno clung to an almost unreal and unfounded hope. How could an ordinary soul do this against the Queen? Now, with a celestial soul like the Queen’s, they knew how impossible it was for an ordinary soul to deceive them.

"We can only hope..." Alm murmured, clenching his fists, nearly in despair.

They both took a deep breath, taking some time to calm down. There were few things that could make them feel this way, and Isla and Ruri were certainly among them. Now, they realized that while they had been playing at being villains in that universe, Isla was being tortured in indescribable ways by the distant Queen.

"She’s strong... an opportunity will arise," Bruno spoke with trembling eyes. "Now, we can only become strong, as fast as possible. If she’s still alive and we have enough, that bastard from Heaven’s Will will figure out a way to send us."

At that moment, Liumi, inside the inventory, heard everything, and as they spoke, was in tears, feeling their sadness. But Fides noticed something strange and called her.

When Liumi turned toward him, it was already over. It lasted just a second, but Fides made sure to say, "I’m sure, the soul inside the Tree of Chaos moved as if it were trying to do something."

’Could it be a coincidence?’ Liumi thought, but didn’t say anything to the two of them at that moment. There was no reason to, and they weren’t in the right state to hear.

Alm and Bruno turned toward the Leviathan, now both radiating a cold and sharp aura. Before, they had just been reckless and shameless, but now they seemed entirely consumed by a bloodthirsty will. With their celestial souls, it was amplified to the maximum, leaving even the Leviathan shocked.

"I will find the five seals of the Ziz. After that, I’ll wait for the heroes to enter here in three days." They both spoke at the same time, in strange synchrony. "In the meantime, improve your bloodline in your son as much as possible. But leave only that fragment of your soul in him."

"What are you planning?" The beast asked, clearly fearful, not of the plans, but suffocated by their presence.

"We’ll find a way to steal the cauldron in that time. At the exact moment, when I destroy the Ziz seals, you must join me and him. We’ll kill all those bastards together." They responded slowly.

"But..."

"Your son has your soul and bloodline. What are you afraid of? You will still be able to be reborn at the right time. I’ve already saved three primordial beasts that were sealed, and I can hide you. As for the Ziz, I’ll do something similar."

They spoke flatly, with a snort. Now, their inventory could perfectly keep that remaining soul. They didn’t need to pretend that the Ziz was sealed this time, which made things easier. But they might not need to keep it there the whole time; it would be a waste.

"Three beasts..." The Leviathan murmured, looking at those two strange souls. "Alright, at the right time, I’ll follow your orders. But..."

"Heze can come with me, he’ll be well taken care of." The two spoke, and the Leviathan nodded satisfied. This was the best possible scenario, if everything went well, of course.

With everything settled, they left the young man’s core. The whole conversation lasted only minutes.

Outside, the whale opened his eyes. Heze stared at him, full of expectation. Alm and Bruno snorted heavily. This young man was already born surrounded by danger, being pushed to his limits by his father all the time.

The first time they saw him, he even used a strange metamorphosis that didn’t match his mind. He spoke grandly and rudely, pretending to be something he wasn’t. Surely, he never had a childhood or free time to have fun. In his mind, there was only fear and a natural distortion.

"Where’s your mother, kid?" the whale asked softly.

"Hm? I don’t have a mother. From what I know, the woman who gave birth to me died more than a hundred thousand years before I was born." He spoke without emotion.

Bruno sighed. The Leviathan had said the kid was prevented from being born. It must have been something similar to what happened with Denil in the past: he was incubated and sealed for a long time until the right moment. When he was born, he was alone and still had that dark father in his mind, tormenting him and hindering his growth; literally.

"Alright. You’ll come with me after we leave here. In the future, you’ll never be alone again. There will be people you can trust and have fun with," Bruno said slowly, seeing the boy’s eyes tremble. "Let’s go back."

They waved their tattoos, and soon Purimu, on the other side, felt it and opened the spatial distortion.

The two emerged, but the moment she saw the whale, the air felt heavy. As she looked at them, the air seemed solid, as if there was no oxygen in her lungs.

Alm and Bruno took deep breaths... Now that their souls had evolved, they needed to learn to keep everything under control again. They could barely avoid influencing the environment with their presence; and now, amidst their internal chaos, everything was flowing.

It lasted just a second, and then everything disappeared. The whale turned to Purimu.

"We don’t have time. Things are going to get dangerous soon. Are you coming with me, or are you going to keep playing at being a Celestial Princess out here?"

"I... I need to discuss it with Ladies Rivine and Lansha. They should also like to meet you. I’m sure they’ll want to recruit you," she said quickly.

The whale smiled mockingly. "Recruit me? Well, whatever." Then he turned to Heze, "Let’s go..."

"I’LL GO WITH YOU!" Purimu quickly exclaimed, jumping up and grabbing the whale’s arm without hesitation.

The whale turned to her and sighed. Suddenly, she was startled by her own move. Why didn’t she care about getting close to him like that? There were no hidden feelings. For a moment, she felt a familiarity, as if she were close to her father. She just acted impulsively without caring, and could cling to him as she wanted, and no one would judge her because he was her family.

Her face became serious, but she swallowed that feeling and quickly spoke:

"You seem suspicious, you’re up to something hidden! I want to make sure you won’t harm the alliance. You’re just going to wander around, right? We might find other allies, if we’re lucky... I’m just immature, and my soldiers are inexperienced, but if you see our real warriors, I’m sure you’ll kneel and beg to join our sect!"

The whale didn’t bother to argue. He just turned to Heze, there was a seal nearby and he knew how to find it.

Until they heard a faint murmur from that little brat beside him, still holding his arm: ’Lady Lyra will surely win him over... I have to feel her... I can find her...’