Garden Of Eden

"The Kingdom of Celesta. Could someone please tell me about the founder of our kingdom?"

Professor Erwin asked.

"Professor."

The one raising her hand before anyone else was Aurora.

Starting from her, I swept my gaze around.

Can't believe so many important characters from the game were gathered in the same place as me but since I knew them from my memories of Edward, it was a rather weird feeling.

"Yes, Miss Aurora."

Aurora stood up and started.

"The First Apostle of Eden and First King, Dorian Celesta, founded the Celesta Kingdom following the First Great Holy War 997 years ago, being the year 497 in the Eden Calendar."

She is sure proud of her ancestor.

I thought when I heard Aurora speaking with so much spirit.

"Yes! Dorian Celesta was the name of our first king, and it is also the name of our royal capital. Miss Aurora, will you please elaborate?"

"Yes, Professor. Our Hero, King Dorian Celesta, was from the Celesta Tribe. He was one of the main leaders who fought against the Vatra Tribe during the First Great Holy War. At the young age of twenty, Dorian Celesta became the supreme leader of the Celesta Tribe."

"Thanks. You may sit now."

Erwin nodded, satisfied.

The First Great Holy War huh…

In the game, it was barely mentioned like now.

'Do you know anything, Cleenah?'

[<No. I was sealed for at least thousands of years so I don't know what happened during that time.>]

'I see.'

"Now. Someone else can tell me about the Vatra tribe and the reason behind this conflict?"

"I will, Professor."

Alfred stood up.

Did he feel he had to respond to his sister's perfect answer?

What a shallow, idiotic guy.

[<That's a lot of insults.>]

'That's how stupid he is.'

I yawned and leaned on the chair.

"The Celesta Tribe was surpassed in power only by the Vatra Tribe. Our Holy Deity Eden was regarded as the supreme being of our world by both the Celesta Tribe and the Vatra Tribe. However, their perceptions of Eden varied. The Vatra Tribe considered using the Holy Trinity for themselves, whereas the Celesta Tribe trusted in Eden's and the Holy Trinity's blessings.

"Explain the Holy Trinity to your classmates, Your Highness."

Erwin asked before Alfred continued to blabber.

"Yes. The Holy Trinity are the holiest treasure of our world. The Garden or also called the Holy Land of Eden, the Sacred Tree of Eden and the Monolith of Eden."

Hundreds of gasps escaped from my classmates when Alfred talked about as he said, the Holiest treasures of this world.

The Garden, the Tree and the Monolith.

One of the reasons why the Celesta Kingdom was famous was because it had the Garden in its capital. No one except the King knows the emplacement of the Garden.

"Yes. The Vatra Tribe and the Celesta Tribe fought over the Holy Garden of Eden. One side wanted to leave the Garden alone and just pray for his blessing, while the other side wanted to use it. Worse, they wanted to transport the garden away."

Silence fell in the Auditorium.

The people, proud of their kingdom, though they felt anger.

Calm down guys, it was centuries ago.

"A ten-year war was fought between Dorian Celesta and his army and Deimos Vatra and his army. There are no records of their conflict to be found. Only the fact that Deimos Vatra was defeated is known. Dorian Celesta and Deimos' son's cooperation resulted in peace between the Celesta Tribe and the Vatra Tribe. The Celesta Tribe made the decision to maintain the Garden of Eden. The location was chosen by Dorian Celesta, who then built his capital there. Regarding the Vatra Tribe, they relocated to what is now the Arvatra Empire. Of course, there were two additional conflicts, the Second and Third Holy War, before it became the empire neighboring us, but we won't talk about those now."

Erwin said and started talking about the First Great Holy War in more depth.

In short, it was going to be boring.

'Cleenah, do you know something about the Holy Trinity? The Garden, the Tree and the Monolith?'

I asked since she was a Goddess.

In the Celesta Kingdom, no, in most of the world, people believed in Eden. A superior and divine entity. It has no appearance but has a will and conscience. The Holy Trinity was said to have been created by Eden's will, so its holy symbolism.

The Guardians who were keeping Eden in safety and realizing his wishes were the Gods, like Cleenah.

[<We have an entity named Eden. He or she is not our superior or whatsoever, but we are protecting it for our sake. It's keeping the balance of the world stable, so we really have no choices. Then there are different people who worship Eden, like the Archangels, who are also Gods. Anyway, the Eden in my world, or 'dimension', is a beautiful garden with a tree at its center and a monolith surrounding it. At the center of->]

"?"

'Cleenah?'

Just when it was getting interesting, Cleenah stopped speaking.

[<I can't say more…for both of us.>]

Cleenah's voice was not like before.

It was a deadly serious voice she had used.

'Okay.'

I wasn't stupid.

If Cleenah really couldn't tell, then I just had to wait.

[<Sorry. One day maybe.>]

I smiled at her words.

'Don't fret over it. Returning to the topic. Does that mean that there are two Eden? Since in this world, there are also a Garden, a Tree and a Monolith.'

[<I don't know Amael. The last time I saw this world, it wasn't like that at all… There were no beliefs about Eden. It hadn't even existed. I don't know what happened…>]

'How was it in your era?'

I was curious to hear about something that was not even present in the game.

How was the world before even the Celesta and Vatra Tribe existed? Before the apparition of the Holy Trinity…?

[<I only saw a few places but it was vastly different. One place looked like a true paradise, another one, a true hell. Honestly, you can be considered a lesser race compared to the people living in that era. They were dangerous. That era was a ruthless era. I have been there, believe me. Something felt mysterious and out of this world....out of my dimension....>]

Cleenah was speaking as if she could see the places she had seen again.

I couldn't picture what it was like from her words…

It might be stupid, but for me, before the Celesta Kingdom and the diffusion of Eden's ideologies in the world, there were just humans.

I mean, less developed towns and less developed humans.

But from what Cleenah said, it was like another world.

'The entity, Eden, was the one creating humanity and the other races?'

I asked just in case.

If he was that amazing, was he able to create life?

[<...>]

She can't answer, huh.

'You said you were living with others Gods in a separate dimension but then why did you descend...?'

...and how did you end up as a Legacy? What is a Legacy?

I didn't ask but I hoped she would understand.

[<...>]

Again...

She left on a cliffhanger!

I am more interested in what happened before the game than what will happen in the next years.

'What about you, Jarvis?'

[...]

I have this strange feeling that he knows something that even Cleenah doesn't know, but he will never say anything to me.

Eden.

It looks a lot like the myth of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden from Earth in Christianity. Of course, the comparison stopped there. There were just a few similarities…There was also a tree in the Garden but not any monolith.

Let's ask just in case…

'Do you know anything about Adam and Eve?'

[<No.>]

No lies, I could feel it.

I sighed at her answer.

It was another world after all.

Still, I hope there were no other things similar to the myths and legends from Earth.

('Nyr, don't you want to live like Adam and Eve? Wouldn't it be lovely?')

"..."

Why?

Ephera said that to me one day, but why was I remembering that now…

It could be a mere coincidence but-

Her smile and her eyes when she told me that were so captivating.

Why…

I feel so stupid now.

Going to Paris to confess to her?

I smiled pathetically.

If I had answered her 'yes with you', it would have been unbearably embarrassing, but at least she would have been alive.

Ephera knew everything about me. She knew I wasn't right in my mind, but she was still there for me. After all that I had done and tried to do, she was there to keep me from straying from the good path.

I bit my lips and stopped the tears that threatened to fall.

"!"

Mary.

I felt like someone was embracing me.

A strange feeling but...it was a good one.

How careless of me.

Even Mary felt my miserable state.

She also knew everything about me. About the game, about my merging, she also saw memories of me and Ephera. Well, we had to synchronize to make the contract so it was normal that she had seen some of my precious memories.

'Thanks, it's okay.'

I sent to her and shook my head.

I closed my eyes for a few seconds to calm my emotions.

I already felt better.

[<Oh, look, your bestie has been robbed.>]

Cleenah spoke, ignoring my state willingly, for which I was quite grateful.

'He ain't my bestie.'

I snorted when she obviously talked about Tyler.

Tyler was talking, talking a lot with Jayden.

Erwin called out to him a few times, but he continued with whispers.

Jayden was answering with a tired smile.

…and Milleia.

She became really close to Lyra like in the game, but she was also talking a few times with Alfred…

Act like a Prince, idiot prince.

If even he, was ignoring Erwin, even if he was a genius, he wasn't showing a good example.

Shit.

When my eyes turned toward a peculiar charming beauty, I felt chills running down my back.

The [Villainess], Layla was staring at Alfred.

It was scary without lying…

What was scary was that she wasn't even fixing with her emotionless gaze Milleia who, just entered her 'must kill list' but Alfred, the one she loved.

I really have to do something about her before she kills Milleia or do something else I haven't seen in the Game.

It was my responsibility since because of me, Lyra brought Milleia next to Alfred. They shouldn't have talked with each other this soon. I don't know what it will change for Layla, but I will not let her kill Milleia.