The Extra of The Lunerra

264  Volume IV - Chapter 109: In the Depths of the Soul

As my eyes slowly opened, as I saw the blue sky and felt the grass I was lying on, not much went through my mind. I just took a deep breath, closed my eyes and continued to lie there.

I didn't feel like doing anything. The only thing I wanted was... to rest a little bit and that's what I did.

Seconds chased minutes. Who knows... maybe for hours all I did was lie there. Finally, though, I sighed deeply again and spoke without opening my eyes.

"How close was it?"

Just like the last time, the whole plain shook first. Even with my eyes closed, I could imagine the sky breaking, taking the shape of two blue eyes.

"Ten minutes. If you had gone another ten minutes without realizing what you had to do, we wouldn't be having this conversation."

Ten minutes...

"I'm surprised, frankly. I didn't think anyone could stay in that nothingness for forty days with all their senses turned off."

So I spent forty days there... forty whole days. Ten minutes seems so small compared to that.

"Am I really dead?"

It was a question I thought I knew the answer to, yet my curiosity got the better of me.

"No, of course not. But whether your death will be the end depends on you and your future actions. Just as you did in that nothingness, you can make your death a new beginning rather than an end in the real world, even if that moment was faked."

I opened my eyes and looked up at the two blue eyes in the sky. They were just as I remembered them, with blue flames shooting out of them.

"You have already given me part of your 'legacy'. No... lent it to me, at least part of it for a short time. Didn't you?"

The ancient creature remained silent, and this time I got up from where I was lying and squinted my eyes.

"There's one more test, isn't there?"

"Yes."

"Then what are you waiting for? Put me into it."

The creature waited with both eyes as they were, nothing happened. It stayed where it was, as if it had never heard me. My brow furrowed and I felt myself tense.

"What happened?"

"I'm thinking about the possibilities because I think the next test might be a problem for you."

A... problem?

"What kind of problem?"

"A problem with your soul. As you know, your soul is divided into your self and your other self, which represents chaos, and the next test will be whether your soul can handle my legacy."

"Oh... So, you're saying that I probably won't be alone in that test."

The creature didn't react, and I let out a deep sigh.

"It doesn't matter, put me to the test."

The creature remained silent for a while, as if it was thinking. Then he broke the silence he had created himself.

"If you want it that way, so be it."

After his words, what I expected happened. All of reality broke and collapsed on top of each other at the same time. Darkness covered my field of vision. An intense sound echoed in my head, ringing in my ears.

I closed my eyes, letting myself feel as if I was changing dimensions, as changes were taking place around me. Soon an intense light appeared behind my closed eyes, but it faded as quickly as it came.

The process quickly came to an end, and then the sound that had been ringing in my ears disappeared.

I realized that I could still feel my body, and it was not difficult for me to realize that I was standing. So, I slowly opened my eyes, trying to grasp where I was.

What I saw... was a huge flame in a dark field that seemed to burn forever in front of me. It was blue in color, it looked at least several times my size. It also had a warmth I had never experienced before in my life. If I got close to it, let alone touched it, I felt as if my whole being could burst into flames and burn.

Yet I was not the only one in this area, just as the ancient creature had said.

Just to the side of the flame was someone smiling at it. Someone with brown hair, short, skinny and with shimmering violet eyes that didn't even try to hide what he was.

After a short moment, he paused, as if he recognized my presence, and turned slowly toward me. For a moment he feigned surprise, but it was so contrived that even he didn't bother to follow it up, he just gave a short laugh and widened his smile.

"Death is as much a new beginning as it is an end, huh... what nonsense."

He took a short step toward me, looking into my eyes.

"You don't believe in this bullshit, do you? If you die... you will die. There will be no new life, no new beginning."

I narrowed my eyes and spoke as calmly as I could.

"Didn't I come into this world by dying? Besides... absurd or not, if I want to get what I want out of this place, I have to 'believe' it."

I took my eyes off him and looked around.

This place looked like the endless nothingness I had always been in, but it had a different feel to it than the creature had made me feel during his tests.

Maybe I could see almost nothing because of the darkness, yes, but... I also felt like I could if I wanted to. This place... it felt more familiar and closer than ever.

"Am I in a test or not?"

"Oh... don't worry, that overgrown bird will never know what happened here."

His eyes shifted for a moment to the huge blue flame beside him.

"At least it won't know what's happening except the result."

"So, I'm in the test..."

I sighed deeply, staring at the blue flame, just like him.

"I need to touch that thing."

My wiera side widened his smile slightly at what I said.

"And how do you plan to do that while I'm here?"

"Are you going to prevent me?"

I narrowed my eyes even more, my gaze serious.

"Wouldn't it be better for you if I got stronger? Isn't that what you want, to break me, to take over my body somehow? Even if that's not your main goal, you obviously want to have fun somehow and you want to do it by spreading chaos around you, won't it be easier for you to do that if I get stronger?"

He took another step toward me, and then another... and finally came right up to me, though it didn't try to attack me or anything. He just looked me in the eye, his eyes shimmering purple, not sparing me his madness.

"Two yeses and two noes."

Did he... answer my questions...?

"It's up to you to find out which answer belongs to which question."

The gleam in his eyes suddenly intensified and he held out his hand to me. I took a step backward, avoiding his hand, but my wiera side didn't stop. Not only that, he narrowed his eyes and the glow in his eyes suddenly became even more intense.

At that very moment, countless purple-colored chains shot out of the darkness toward me. When I realized what their purpose was, I tried to avoid them too, but... it was useless. The chains wrapped around my arms and legs. They pinned me in place.

"W- what are you trying to...?"

I tried to get out of the chains but it didn't take me long to realize I couldn't do it. So I looked at my wiera side, at his left hand, which was reaching toward my chest.

He didn't even bother to answer my question. His palm touched my chest, and then a warm sensation enveloped my whole body. For a moment the whole darkness was filled with a purple glow.

Then... a different color suddenly joined the chaos.

Along with the purple color of caora, a bright and soothing blue appeared out of nowhere. Purple and blue intertwined and intertwined in the middle of endless nothingness.

My wiera side closed his eyes, his smile almost reaching his ears.

"This... is my test for you."

Caora and ordea continued to intertwine, and suddenly everything froze in place, as if time had stopped. Then the whole of nothingness trembled, and the two opposing energies, as if they had found a new and common target, slowly moved in one direction: toward me.

"Don't worry, it's not going to be a big test. I'll just... give you a few seconds of something."

As he said this, he slowly turned to dust and disappeared, the purple chains that bound my body retreating back into the darkness from whence they came. Caora and ordea rushed into my body. It didn't take a second for me to lose consciousness.