Chapter 696 - Eternity (2/2)
”So that flaming tree is just...”
”The World Spirit's manifestation of your most cherished dream. To you, it looks like Yggdrasil, in my eyes, it's the Book of Truth, the key toall knowledge in the World. Gnarly isn't it? Since it can't lure us into itself, the World Spirit is trying to charm you into entering its body.” Spirit Immortal Dream frowned.
”It can't lure us in?”
”Yeah! I'd told you right? I created this space to await the arrival of the next Spirit Immortal. I didn't do that for fun, you know? I wanted to share the true nature of the World Spirit with you and send you back to the realm below!”
”Then why didn't you tell that to Yume Metropolis? Share that information with your own members and not massacre them!”
”Do you think I didn't try?” Spirit Immortal Dream snorted. ”I don't know what you know about what happened in Yume Metropolis that day, but it's probably all fake news. That day, when the executives of my government broke into my lab and found out that the Immortal Realm wasn't real, they all went into a frenzy! They destroyed all of my research, branding me as a heretic. At the same time, my own citizens claimed that I'd lost my way and were demanding my execution!”
”Why would they do that?” Shin asked apprehensively. Based on Akumu's and history's reports, Spirit Immortal Dream was well-liked by her citizens. For them to turn on her that quickly...
”You don't know what the Immortal Realm, the dream of Immortality means to humans! At least in my time, there were still many who were ardent in their beliefs that the Immortal Realm was real and if one cultivated enough, they would become the next Spirit Immortal, breaking the curse of death. So I'd thought to seal myself here and wait for the times to pass. I was hoping that as the years passed, the World would become a much more liberal place where my research and relics would spread across the globe so once the next Spirit Immortal arises, he or she will have a better understanding of my thoughts. That's why I didn't leave a direct message, but a cryptic rearrangement of words. I only wanted people who thought like me to get the words that I'd left behind.”
”You...”
”Well, it worked out fine didn't it? You're here now and from the looks of it… You have no issue with the Immortal Realm being a false dream… uh… What was your name again, Junior?”
From the beginning, since Shin got here, Shin hadn't given Spirit Immortal Dream his name, nor did he tell his story.
”It's Shin… Shin Iofiel.”
”Aha! Shin Iofiel! The name of the twenty-second human who broke through Rank 100! Hehe, I've told you everything that you need to know about me, so why don't you return the favour? I've been cooped up here for a loooong time, and I really need some stories to keep my Spirit going!”
”Wait! I'm not done asking questions!”
”Hey! I've been talking my throat dry! Also, I'm not going to give out my information for free! I tell you one story, you tell me another. Make it fair!”
Shin looked at the woman for a moment before relenting a sigh. Where was the dignified Spirit Immortal Dream that he heard his master gush about? Where was the super genius that ruled the World five hundred years ago? Where was the peerless beauty that the Allfather was willing to purge the World into the worst war in its history just to meet again? All of Shin's expectations of Spirit Immortal Dream just came plunging down the cliff the moment he met her.
”Fine, I'll talk...”
Shin started his story with his sole spectator glistening from both eyes as she sat obediently like a child waiting for a bedtime story. Shin's account of his life started out lightly. His childhood in the Frie Clan and the happy memories he had as a child. Making friends with Junius, Ariel and the plethora of other orphans. Then, Shin's story took a deeper turn as he revealed the backstory of his past about the Awter and Frie Clan.
The fall of the Frie Clan... Ariel's and Lily's death… Shin told everything to Spirit Immortal Dream. However, he didn't just stop with all the negative in his life. Shin went straight into the other relations he formed with Kanari, Lady Seph, the other important people in his life… His latter years with his children and watching them grow as a.d.u.l.ts…
But most importantly… Shin told Spirit Immortal Dream all about the Allfather, or Akumu, her long-cherished friend who destroyed the World just to get another shot at meeting her.
Spirit Immortal Dream's face churned. Her smile vanished completely as he heard of all the atrocities that Akumu had committed just to open Heaven's Gate. For the most part, Spirit Immortal Dream couldn't believe that Akumu was capable of such a feat!
”If you had made it clear to him from the start that the Immortal Realm doesn't exist, I doubt the Allfather would have gone to such lengths.” Shin chastised Spirit Immortal Dream, blaming her for the long war that the Allfather had waged.
”The Payircis that you made to serve as training grounds, they became breeding grounds for Umbras. The weapons that you've developed, the Allfather used it to destroy cities. The research you had about the Terre Dragon, the Allfather used it to split the Terre Continent. Because you didn't settle it with the Allfather, he destroyed the modern World as we knew it.”
”Akumu that brat...” Spirit Immortal Dream scratched the back of her ear, unable to refute a single word. ”It was my folly… I should've made it clear to him.”
”It doesn't matter now...” Shin sighed as he turned his attention back to the World Spirit. He knew better than anyone that it was impossible to reverse time and resurrect a human being. So, he'd thought that the Immortal Realm would provide the answers. Alas… Immortality doesn't exist.
”What's done can't be undone. The most that the World can do… is look forward and rebuild from the ground up.”
Shin's comment may have seemed to have no other implications, but Spirit Immortal Dream caught on to what Shin was insinuating.
”The World… Does it include a World without Shin Iofiel?”
”... You're sharp.”
Flabbergasted, Spirit Immortal Dream slammed her fist down in her first outbreak of the day. ”Why?! I have the ability to send you back! That's the whole reason why I created this place! To send the next Spirit Immortal back down so that he could spread the news about Immortality! Don't you want to spend more time with your wife and children? Why do you want to throw away three centuries of your life just to become energy?”
”Spirit Immortal Dream… If I don't make this ascension, will the World undergo the same cataclysm it did when you ascended?”
”That...”
Spirit Immortal Dream was tongue-tied. Yes, the main reason why the World didn't dance with bliss sending auroras into the sky while pure energy halos graced all corners of the globe… was because Spirit Immortal Dream hadn't truly ascended. She defied nature and stalled her merger with the World Spirit, which in turn triggered an all-out natural disaster that decimated the planet.
”The World can't handle another disaster like that, Spirit Immortal Dream. Not when it's rebuilding after the arduous war that it just faced.”
”But!”
”Also… You misunderstand something about the World Spirit.” Shin turned towards the flaming tree. It seemed to be burning for eternity, but eventually, its flame will die out. And at the end of the burning tree's life, an adorable cerulean little Koi will emerge, dancing along with the last embers of the tree.
”It keeps the cycle going. It keeps the order of nature and the balance that holds the planet together. And in the end...” Shin glanced over his shoulder and smiled at the frozen face of Spirit Immortal Dream. ”It will always keep the peace. The cycle will continue to spin, on and on until the end of time.”
”You really...” Spirit Immortal Dream slapped her hand on her forehead. Her interpretation of the World Spirit went one way, while Shin's ideals of the World Spirit went the other. The two philosophical beliefs clashed and most likely… there was no persuading Shin out of his final decision.
”You know I really waited a long time… I don't want to wait another five centuries for another Rank 100.” Spirit Immortal Dream sighed before making her final plea. ”Alright! This will be the last time I'm offering you this. Do you want to enter the World Spirit, or take my portal back to the Mortal Realm? What's your choice?”
Shin paused for a moment. The allure of returning home, to a place where his loved ones would be delighted to have him back… was a tempting offer. He couldn't resurrect Ariel, Shizen, Junius or any of his cherished friends that he'd lost in the war anymore. Shin's whole motive for entering the Immortal Realm had melted away, and it was stupid for him to live eternity as a mindless blob of energy.
But ultimately… there was only one choice that Shin could make.
”My choice is...”