Chapter 268 - Nathan Evenhart and Jandr

  Nathan Evenhart:

  “They are demons…” a deep voice whispered beside me. I turned, only to find the e glow of the eyes of the massive serpent that inhabited my soul. “That’s what the ‘Illuminated’ really are. They are not gods. They are demonic beings.”

  I tio stare at the three giant figures with red eyes. As the shadows dissipated, I saw two more thrones, but they were empty.

  “I’m here, my lords,” said a smaller dark figure, the only visible part of it being its two vibrant pink eyes.

  “This is just an echo of what happened… it’s safe to observe…” the voice of the serpent echoed once more throughout the space.

  I watched the iion, intrigued.

  One of them brought its massive fio the woman, and a drop of bck liquid dripped from it, falling and densing in her hand, transf into a bck stohe same stohe dragon-serpent had told me to destroy. I was witnessing the moment that had been recorded in that stoer that, the memory faded, leaving only darkness.

  “Demons…” I murmured, intrigued.

  Was I truly sent to a hell? If the world I was reborn into is my hell… then I’ve just found the demons of this pce…

  Only two yelle glows remained in that darkness. I k was the giant serpent. She was there.

  “Expin to me what those creatures are,” I said.

  “They are called many names: Darkness, Demons, Illuminated, A Evil… or Nidhogg.”

  I tried to reason through this.

  “Why did you make me destroy that eemple’? Why make me kill Nikous Wolves aroy the stone he held? I could’ve tortured him until I knew everything I hen killed him.”

  A ugh echoed.

  “You’re quite hasty. For years, this has been one of the few moments we could have a versation, and you just want answers…” said the e eyes with a hint of humor in their voice.

  “I don’t care. You made me take a hasty a, but you assured me I’d get my answers. I’m here demanding those answers.”

  A crushi desded upon me, as if gravity itself was trying to force me to the ground. The murderous iy of it was absurd.

  “Enough! This doesn’t work!” I shouted, struggling to remain standing against that relentless pressure. Suddenly, the force ceased.

  A soft ugh echoed around me. Slowly, the two eyes approached from the shadows, revealing a monstrous serpent with a face that resembled a dragon’s.

  “It was just my wele gift, bearer. As always, you’re not afraid of me… intriguing,” said the creature. “It’s been a long time since we’ve seen each other ‘personally’.”

  The serpent was gigantic, yet its size somehow made it feel close.

  “Call me Jandr,” it said. “That’s one of my many names, or you call me the Destroyer of Water, or the most beautiful serpent that ever existed,” it said with a ugh.

  “Don’t stall,” I said, staring at the immense serpent. “I stopped interrogating Nikous Wolves because of you. I want the answers you promised me. What was that se I saw? Expin what you know about the Nidhogg.”

  The serpent burst into ughter, a deep sound that reverberated through the darkness.

  “No one has ever spoken to me like that,” Jandr said, still ughing. “No other bearer has dared treat me with such disdain. They all called me ‘lord’, ‘honorable’, or ‘magnanimous’.”

  “I don’t care about your opinion or the opinions of the other bearers. I want the answers you promised,” I said.

  The creature stared at me with its e eyes and then started ughing again.

  "Ah, ah," it said, ughiween words. "Let me tell you something iing first... this pce, where we are, is your soul. This darkness is yours," it said, with a more serious tone.

  I looked around, fag the vast emptihat surrounded us.

  "I thought it might be..." I murmured. The endless, dense, and imperable darkness around me felt infinite.

  "I'm not pining. I like dark pces," the serpent added, showing a slight smile. "But, before we ge the subject, I o tell you something: you almost killed yourself trying to make yhtning turn purple. Don't do that unless necessary. It brought you to the brink of death. If there's no oo help you or if, by ce, the spell demands a higher price... you'll die."

  I remained silent, refleg on his words. I still hadn't found a way to fully trol those purple lightning bolts, but I used that power to reduce everything to ashes in that pot just Nikous Wolves, but the temple, the creatures, the entire dungeon. I destroyed it all.

  "There's another important point: you've reached the critical limit in the use of your special eyes. Don't use them more than necessary. I mao heal your vision, but the wear and tear remains. Their power es at a price, and if abused, it lead to blindness and the perma shutdown of your abilities. Your power drains the eyes seven times faster due to the elemental diversity they carry. So, save them. Use them only in future battles; you'll hem," he told me.

  "I uand... I didn't know they wore out that quickly. My teacher is almost two hundred years old, and she's not blind. I thought I'd live until I died of old age with my eyes still w..." I said, still trying to process all the information.

  "Stop training the Celestial Aspects," he warned firmly, with a serioushat sent a chill down my spine. "Or you will die."

  That left me uled. "But why? What do you mean, die?"

  Jandr moved closer to me. "The Special Eyes use your mana to fun, but they are also a physical part of your body, which wears out over time, like any an. They e the loy of your eyes, and that’s why blindness occur. But what do you think the Celestial Eyes e?"

  A chill ran through my body, and then I uood. "Lifespan..." I murmured.

  "Exactly." The serpent's voice reverberated. "Every time you used the Celestial Eyes, they devoured days from your life. More precisely, the loy of your soul. You are not like that dragon-girl you know. Her soul and mana are one, so she regee. But you are 'human'; your soul and mana are separate. These eyes are not patible with you. As the Celestial Eyes devour your soul, your lifespan is shortened; your soul does nee."

  I was stunned. "It was almost five years... training with the Celestial Eyes..." I began to say, feeling the weight of the revetion. "How much life have I lost?"

  Jandr watched me for a moment. "Hmm... it took a few years for you to master them to the point where they started actively feeding on your soul. And as your mastery increased, the more your life was devoured. But in that time, you also grew stronger. Don't worry too much; you still came out ahead. The years you lost were 'extra'. You'll tio live lohan an average human, thanks to the awakening of your elven blood."

  I processed those words in silence. "Why didn't you tell me this earlier?"

  "I live in a dormant state," Jandr expined. "Rarely am I scious. My voice couldn't reach you. Even iimes I woke up, it was only for seds, insuffit to expin something so plex, and for you to hear me. Now, after you've awakehe Aspect of Life, we have this brief versation."

  "By the way," he added, "my Aspect of Life is not patible with your human body, so it also has limitations. That’s why, when you used it, your eyes turned e. But don't use my power unnecessarily, or there will e a day when there won't be enough lifespao e, and you... will die."

  I uood that.

  The Special Eyes drain the life of my eyes, and the Celestial Eyes drain my life... It seems I won't be using them anymore, unless it's absolutely necessary. I o save that power for the future.

  "Now let's talk about the demons," I annouurning my attention back to the giant serpent.

  "Before we begin, I’ll reinforething: you are the bearer, so I ot lie to you. If I lie, I would be breaking the inal agreement that allows me to exist. But uand that there are things I will not reveal. Just as you have difficulty speaking about your past, I have the same difficulty when it es to mine. What do you want to know about the figures you saw?"

  "Everything. Especially why I had to destroy that bck stone," I replied.

  "The bck stone was a direct el to the beings you call 'The Illuminated’. When I practically 'begged' you to kill Nikous Wolves aroy the sto was to prevent the demons or their subordinates oher side from disc your identity. Have you sidered the dahese dark beings represent? If they knew you were the bearer of my eyes, they would e after you and your family."

  "I o know more. How dangerous are they? Is aiation possible? What are their goals? I just eace."

  He ughed, a sound that echoed in the darkness. "There's iating with them. If they offer something, always be suspicious. Maniputing is in their nature. I had you destroy everything so they wouldn't see you, but I tell you this: if the 'Illuminated' were involved with Nikous, a great flict is about to unfold."

  His words resonated in my mind, like the prophecy Sisika had given me.

  "What do you mean, a great flict?" I asked, uneasy.

  The serpent sighed, its gaze heavy upon me. "All I tell you is that these creatures operate in the shadows, on every side of a war. They py with the desires of the living, manipute their hearts, and use that to trol them. They appear when chaos has settled, when everyone is most vulnerable. If these beings are in tact with humans, know this: at some point, a great flict will arise. They wait for the right time to act."

  His words weighed heavily on my soul as I thought about the people I loved.

  "Is there any way to prevent this great flict? Maybe by going after other followers?" I suggested, searg flimmer of hope.

  "No," the giant serpent responded coldly. "If you cut off one head, two will grow back. Trying to put out a fire will only make it spread elsewhere. Plug a hole in the ship, and another will appear soon enough. Do you think you tain the o's water with your hands?"

  I sighed. "No..."

  "That's how they py," he tinued. "If you go after one of their servants, it won't make a differehey have many agents scattered around. It's even possible that Nikous Wolves' downfall art of their pns. They are always a step ahead. There’s no stopping them, only preparing for when they act again. And, at some point… they will e for your world."

  "And where do they live? Where is the pce they are?" I asked, eager for answers.

  "Now is not the time for you to know..." he said.

  I let out a bitter ugh. "Are you kidding me?"

  "My silen certain matters is a way to protect you. Don't you realize that these eyes you have, that woman... Sisika... she gave them to you because she wao, not because you were chosen to bear them? If, at any point, her people e to you, I’d rather they tell you what you o know. I say this for your own good... one day you’ll find out why I still exist."

  I sighed. Pushing the issue further wouldn’t lead anywhere. I o make the most of the remaining versation to learn more about the demons.

  “How strong are these three demons?” I asked.

  “They’re strong to the point where you wouldn’t even be able to approach them,” Jandr said. “But the most dangerous is the ohey serve…”

  If such powerful beings were vassals to someo meant there was something even more terrifying, strong enough not to submit to those three creatures.

  I remembered the two empty thrones I had seen. “Do those... things serve someone?”

  “The being they serve... I’d rather not talk about it,” the serpent replied. “But know that it is the most dangerous of them all. The darkness you sauting the one-eyed man and the man with the hammer... it is him. A born maniputor, a trickster. Someone I knew. I only tell you that…”

  “Did you fight him?” I ventured, searg flimmer of hope.

  The serpent stared at me for a moment before beginning to blend into the darkness. “Our versation is over, boy.”

  “Wait!” I shouted, trying to follow her, but she moved too quickly.

  “I’m sorry, bearer,” she said, her voice eg in the gloom. “I’ve already said more than I should. Like you, I don’t like revisiting the past. But I gave you information beyond what was in that temple or what Nikous Wolves could have told you. Be careful... the servants of Nidhogg might be around. In fact, I think there’s one in the academy where you study; at some point, I sensed a peculiar st in someone you know, but that presence quickly disappeared.”

  Someone I know is a servant of the demons? Who could it be?

  The serpereated bato the darkness, and I could only see the glow of her eyes. I felt the e break, Jandr’s presence slipping away.

  “Wait! And those two men? Who were they? And why were you by the side of the man with the hammer in that image on the wall?”

  She paused, her voice heavy as it reverberated around me:

  “I was fighting the man with the hammer. He is my... aremy. Someone who was on old friend, but I don’t want to talk about him. As for the oh the eye patch, surrounded by birds, he was someone who fell in the a battle against the darkness. But you... you are ected to him.”

  “ected how?”

  “Well... the same st from the oh the eye patch is on your ‘soul wife’. They are retives. And the birds... you know what they are, one of the peoples of the ‘a civilization.’”

  “ected to Cyl? Expin more” I tried to insist, taking aep forward.

  But the darkness shifted and began to colpse, being even denser.

  “Be careful with the man with the hammer,” she warned, her voice eg like a final echo. “If he learns that you have my eyes, he will try to kill you. He is extremely dangerous... and also a thunder user.”

  With o breath of her presence, I was thrown out of that deep darkness, expelled bato reality.