Chapter 212 - The Girl Who Cannot Be Named (E*********)

Arriving at the village, Aurolana smiled brightly and asked "What's wrong?"

"You don't seem that torn up after losing all our friends," Zeel stated.

"You don't either,"

"I am unable to care about them, but you are not like me. You started acting strangely after the explosion," Zeel said nonchalantly.

"I have seen it too many times to care anymore," Aurolana whispered her answer.

Zeel wanted to ask about her meaning but paused suddenly when he heard a dog barking.

The noise placed him in a trance as he cut through several paths to find an old dilapidated house surrounded by three individuals.

Inside he could hear a dog barking and it sounded eerily familiar.

Zeel walked over and peeked inside, he was too scared to fully look inside. Something about this memory made him dread.

Aurolana watched from the side, interested to see if Zeel would finally acknowledge his first-ever mistake.

At least, the first-ever mistake he cared about. Zeel walked into the house from a crack and silently approached the three men that were beating a dog.

The dog tried to fight desperately, it wanted to protect the sick ten-year-old girl coughing on the bed.

For some reason, Zeel's body moved on its own, almost as if it was replaying the same steps he had taken at the time.

One, Two, Three – three heads fell in an instant, then Zeel stared at the dog and killed it as well.

"First mistake," Aurolana's voice whispered in Zeel's ear.

Zeel stared at the sick girl on the bed, she also stared at Zeel. They stared at each other for a while as Zeel's body started to shrink into an 8-year-old.

"Do you want the embrace of death," Zeel asked.

The girl's eyes sparkled, then she quickly nodded her head.

Zeel placed the knife on her neck and just as he was about to slit her neck cleanly. The girl managed to squeeze out a phrase "My name is E********,"

Zeel's eyes widened, he reached for the feather that floated past his shoulder and held it up to observe in detail.

Feathers had been occasionally drifting near his body for years now, but never once had he thought this strange.

Zeel stared at Aurolana approaching in the distance and whispered "Break!"

The world before Zeel's eyes dissolved and what was revealed was a large expanse of ocean.

The purple skies added to the beautiful scenery of the red, setting sun. Zeel recognized this scenery immediately, he was very familiar with this Dimension.

It was his ultimate escape plan for when he died because people like him would rather not spend eternity burning in hell.

Glancing at his shoulder, Zeel saw a small creature that resembled a weasel, only this weasel had deep green eyes and golden antlers on its head.

Zeel smiled faintly as he brushed the smooth white fur of the creature.

The creature hopped from his shoulder and darted towards the small shed near the sea.

There, Zeel saw Aurolana but unlike the one from his memories.

This Aurolana seemed eighteen years old and infinitely more mature like she had seen the vicissitudes of life.

Aurolana's wings no longer contained Zeel's cyber-lines and they were much smaller.

She seemed haggard, almost as if she was dying but that was impossible on this specific planet, in this specific dimension.

Aurolana stared forward at the motions of the waves, paying Zeel no mind as was the case the first moment they met.

"I don't know how we are here. The seas of Taragon, or as the humans know it – Purgatory," Zeel said.

Aurolana glanced at Zeel and smiled tiredly "I worked so hard to create a story with a happy ending for us, but you are too paranoid for your own good,"

Aurolana brushed the creature on her shoulder not hiding the creature from Zeel's inspection.

It had been hundreds of years since she last saw him. Time in Purgatory worked differently, but she still watched him every day.

"You have a Tempora?" Zeel mused "The Creature of possibilities, known for showing alternate pasts and futures,"

Tempora could show anyone the possibilities of their future or past at any given point in time, but they always had a flaw.

The flaw of Aurolana's Tempora was a single feather that would always be out of place.

"Yes, I showed you the possibility we would have lived if you were as emotionally invested back then," Aurolana said smiling sadly "Sadly, back then you did not yet have these emotions or all that tragedy could have been avoided,"

Zeel was silent for a moment and inquired "Why trap me here? I think I would have come to see you ever so often anyway. There was no need to waste all our time playing made-up stories. I can't stay in the land of those transitioning souls for long. Hell will come to claim my soul. If I am lucky, only Limbo will come,"

Aurolana smiled bitterly "I love you, but I hate you just as much now. But in the end, we are soulmates after all. Even if we are separated by life and death,"

"You are not dead yet!" Zeel raised his voice immediately after hearing Aurolana's statement.

Aurolana directed a sharp glare at Zeel but did not answer his outburst.

It was her first time seeing him agitated so it was a pleasing enough response to satisfy her self-worth.

"I would like to tell you about the end of our possibility," Aurolana said and continued the story, not waiting for Zeel to intervene "After that explosion, everyone was killed and Ciara disappeared.

We found that village and raised E****** as our daughter for a couple of years.

When the test was over, we returned to the nameless island where they forced us to fight each other, but we rebelled and destroyed the planet that you had slowly saturated with Computronium.

We escaped, spent the next five years in romance and pure love. We had a son – Micila, but we were forced to part with him.

Our teacher Zal would raise our son to become a talented warrior eventually.

We returned to our homes and united the Apollonians, and Homo-Superiors by marriage and soulmate rights.

We would later unite the entire Universe to fight those responsible for the death of millions of the Races.

We fought, we won some, we lost some, and we barely won the war, but you and I died.

The Universe was torn apart by the war and became desolate. We passed into the afterlife and were allowed into heaven. Then our son's own story would began.

He also fought them and won but they wanted to detonate the Universe alongside our son and his young lovers.

He married both of Zal's daughters and loved them both more than his life.

Zal died in the war protecting our son. Our families also helped our son with his journey. He was a wise man and made us proud in Heaven.

During the final battle, we watched our son's despair as he was about to lose and decided to make the ultimate sacrifice as proud parents.

We escaped from heaven at the last moment and detonated our very existence to save the Universe, our Universe, our son, and his wives.

Our last act as parents were to give up our eternity of happiness for the chance of our son's happiness.

That was our legend, our myth, and our ending. Or the possible ending we could have had at that time,"

Zeel was silent but the tears that fell from his eyes told Aurolana everything she needed to know.

Zeel finally understood, after all the pain he finally understood.

Aurolana was pleased with feeling their stagnant soulmate connection finally evolving and growing once more.

"So we had that possibility back then, huh?" Zeel mocked himself.

Crying was Zeel's involuntary reaction to the emotions being shared by Aurolana.

Zeel was not yet emotionally grown enough to cry on his own, but a soulmate connection could drag out even the vaguest of emotions.

"Yes we did, but that was not the path we took. Tell me the true story Zeel, I want to hear the truth of how everything went," Aurolana asked coldly staring at Zeel.

Aurolana needed Zeel to acknowledge all the sins he had committed at the time.

"We should talk about something else," Zeel said, dodging the topic.

Aurolana bellowed, her eyes turning into slits "TELL ME!"

Her teeth also sharpening for a split second like Zeel's would when his anger peaked.

Soulmates shared energy, so of course, Aurolana would also be affected by his Draconic Energy.