The one and true END
"Replicas…?" Eren repeated, his eyes narrowing, a furrow deepening between his brows. If he was right, the system had mentioned something about replicas just before he woke up in this world. But what exactly did it mean by replicas? Did it mean it literally, or was it referring to something else entirely? Could it be that he and Arael were one and the same? But if that were the case, how could Arael have a life and personality so different from his own? Not to mention, Arael was still alive, trapped in this body just as he was. There was no way they were the same, yet something about this left him feeling… uneasy.
It was as though…
He was missing something glaringly obvious.
"I can't say for sure," the voice continued, its tone slipping into confusion. "But both souls seem identical… No, perhaps they aren't separate entities to begin with. I can feel it. It's as though both souls are trying to fuse with each other yet can't… I… this shouldn't even be possible in the first place," the voice rambled, losing itself in the intricacies of soul dynamics—something Eren found himself caring little about. Maybe it had to do with his inability to get excited over the smallest things…
Well, that wasn't entirely true anymore. He could feel more emotions now than he ever had before, more alive than he'd ever felt. However, that didn't translate into an instant character change.
"I don't know what the fuck you're talking about or what the fuck it has to do with me. And I think I speak for Arael at this point," Eren replied as he leaned against the rough bark of the tree, clawing his way upright. "Anyway, as I said, I also have a question of my own."
"…What do you want to know…?" the voice asked, the question almost expected.
"Simple. What are you, and why are you in Eren's body? Given that the system didn't register your existence, that only means two things: One, you didn't get into this body the same way Arael and I did, and two, you were here before us. So… what are you?" Eren asked, now on his feet, eyes narrowed as he waited for the enigmatic entity's reply.
"…Perhaps an introduction is in order," the voice replied after a brief pause.
"I think so too," Eren agreed, starting to walk in the direction he remembered Arael taking. He had no idea if this was the way out, but it seemed likely, considering the facts he'd pieced together.
First, mana beasts didn't just appear in Elysium. They couldn't enter due to the high security and the Guidance's quick reaction to eliminate anything registered as a threat before it even approached Elysium. So, any mana beasts that wandered into this world through stray portals would only roam the uninhabited parts of the world. If they ever got close to Elysium's borders, they would be instantly killed. This could only mean one thing:
Eren was nowhere near Elysium.
However, that didn't make sense. As far as he knew, Eren, a child of one of Elysium's high powers, lived in central Elysium, the capital of the continent. The world, as it once was, had been reduced to barely a third of its original size, so the remaining land had banded together to form a continent, or an empire of sorts, with the strongest of each race serving as a king to their respective tribes. Currently, there were five kingdoms in total: those of the humans, elves, vampires, mermaids (alongside their lifelong enemies, the whales), and dwarfs. The dragons were the central power, ruling Scanta Nevaria, the heart of Elysium where all dragons resided. Only the most privileged of the privileged could even see Scanta Nevaria, and Eren was one of those, given his status as the son of the House of Aurelius, one of those who stood their ground in the war against the ascendants.
In all this, Eren knew beyond a doubt that his being here was connected to the entity within him and Arael.
"I am Zarendal, the one and true End."