The Long-Awaited Truth

"Why was I born on the beach? Why me... why these people?" I asked Deity first.

"Long ago, when the Earth went through its extinction event, there were a group of people to be reincarnated into Arkians on the Isles up in space. Your friends fell into that group of people. But... before I tell you the reason you were born on this Isle... keep an open mind." Deity said. I felt myself get even more nervous when she said that.

"You were killed long ago, sent to this Isle to save its people. It has to do with your true identity... but I'll save that for later. Anyway, your friends qualified to have the possible DNA to be true-blood Arkians who would, in theory, be able to house strands just as well as White Stones." She explained.

"My friends... is there any way to get them back?!" I asked Deity, but she shook her head.

"Anybody that is currently dead will stay dead until the end of time... but as for your injured friends... why don't you bring them to me?" Deity asked. I looked to Noboki and Ellie as they brought over Mandi, Dani, and Carl.

"Hm... Okay." Deity held out her left hand and inserted strands into their bodies. Just like magic, Carl's body fixed itself along with Mandi's... but Dani still wasn't being healed.

"I guess you need a little more. Look away from me, all of you." Deity said.

"Huh? Why?" I asked, but Noboki turned my head while I heard strands being placed into Dani's body as well.

When I turned to look back at Dani... she was perfectly normal. It just looked like she was sleeping. I was so happy, I didn't know what to do.

"Thank you! So much! Is there any way you could heal everybody else?!" I asked, but Deity wagged her finger back and forth.

"We'll get to that." She told me.

"What is System Corruption? Why wasn't I allowed to undergo the Corruption?" I asked Deity.

"A marking. It means nothing to Deities or normal people. It's a brand of a symbol so people know if you should be killed or not. You weren't allowed to undergo Corruption because I threatened Zeal's life. If you went Corrupt, I would kill him. Regardless, I wanted you to Corrupt this entire time, but I needed a good excuse to kill that son of a bitch so the other two wouldn't hurt me." Deity said.

"The other two...? Anyway, when you took my fatigue all those times... I wanted to thank you." I told Deity.

"It was only twice in your entire life. But, you're welcome. You really hurt me that last time I took it when we blocked that glacier." Deity stated.

"So it was Deity who blocked it! Thank you so much for saving us!" Lia shouted out to her.

"But wait a minute... that wasn't the last time-"

[Keep Your Mouth Shut]

I silenced myself with wide eyes and looked down at the ground, trying to hold back my heavy breathing from the message.

"So... it was you. I had a feeling you were the resistance I was feeling that entire time. Well, no matter. You have no substance so long as he doesn't reawaken. I guess you'll have to sleep for just a bit longer, Avie." Deity said.

"Avie? Who's that?" I asked her.

"Don't sweat it. She's nobody." The atmosphere got really quiet after Deity finished talking.

"Ms. Deity... what do you know about the name Asterio?" Mandi asked.

"Asterio? Where did you hear that?" Deity responded. Ellie held up her book and handed it off to Deity, where she opened it on the exact page it was bookmarked.

"Oh... so it is here. Asterio...?" Deity asked.

"The family who commit genocide on the Earth... do you know anything about them? I've been dying to know the mysteries that family has been hiding." Mandi told her.

Deity turned completely around and looked up at the sky, taking a deep breath.

"Interesting... so be it... this is long overdue, but I owe every single one of you an apology... and my true name." Deity told us.

"An apology, for what?" I asked.

"For everything that happened on that Isle. I'm sorry I couldn't arrive any sooner, but I'm not permitted in that domain. As for my true identity..." Deity paused, looking up at me with a smile.

"My name is Illya Asterio." Deity said.

Everything went dead silent as we all stared at her in confusion. It only clicked in Mandi and Ellie's heads.

"YOU?! You... you're a part of the family that commit genocide?! What the hell is wrong with you?!" Mandi yelled out, but Ellie held her arm up to block her aggressive body language.

"You really trust this book with your life... you should... everything in it was true. I commit genocide against the Human race and totaled over two billion kills in my life back when I lived on Earth." Illya admitted.

"Two... billion? So... you're not a good guy?" I asked her. Illya shook her head.

"Never have been, never will be. I do what I must. They all deserved it... because they took the one thing I loved in my entire life away from me based on a false accusation. I killed them all... and I would do it a million times if I needed to. I would wipe out humanity if I had to." Illya said.

"I'm sorry those people killed the person you love... maybe we can work this out together? We can team up and get the justice you deserve... did they kill your brother? Your boyfriend? Your girlfriend?" I asked Illya.

"They killed my husband... and they stole my daughter from me," Illya said. She wiped tears from her eyes.

"I'm so sorry. Is there anything we can do?" I asked, but Lia held out her arm in front of me with an irritated look.

"Who was your husband, Illya Asterio?" Lia asked.

"My husband... he was a great man. He was a natural-born leader with many friends on his side. They were all great people... but I was the only one who remained at the end of each of their lives. I was cursed, you could say. I took his last name and I carried it on until this exact point." Illya said.

"My husband..." Illya rose her finger and pointed it dead at my chest.

"My husband... was you... Sky Asterio." She said.