Chapter 36: Crossroads of Fate

Adeu trudged back to his house, the weight of his thoughts pressing heavily on his shoulders.

His steps echoed in the quiet halls of the grand academy as he climbed the stairs to his room.

Just as he reached the top, a sharp pain pierced his heart, and his vision blurred. He stumbled, fell, and then... darkness.

When Adeu woke, he was enveloped in an inky black void. The silence was suffocating until a voice broke through the darkness.

"Welcome," it said, reverberating through the emptiness. The voice was deep, resonant, and carried an air of unchallengeable authority.

Adeu's heart pounded in his chest. "Who is this?" he asked, not with fear, but with confusion and bewilderment.

"I am the God of Death, Pharnavaz," the voice replied, its tone almost amused. "I control every death. I am the one who sends souls to heaven and the underworld. I am a true god, one of the most important pillars of the World of Gods."

Adeu's mind raced. Pharnavaz hadn't been at the Blessings Ceremony. What could the God of Death want with him?

The darkness seemed to press in closer, more oppressive with each passing second.

Pharnavaz chuckled, a sound that sent chills down Adeu's spine. "You felt it, didn't you? The connection with the human boy, Dune."

Adeu's eyes widened in shock. "How... how do you know about that?"

The god continued, ignoring Adeu's question. "I can't believe it happened, but it's exciting. I'll be watching both of you.

Your futures look most interesting. I can't wait for the day when you two actually meet. Until then, I shall wait and observe."

Pharnavaz's laughter filled the void, echoing off unseen walls. Then, as suddenly as it had come, the darkness dissipated. Adeu found himself back on the stairs, disoriented and trembling.

"Pharnavaz? What did he do to me and Dune?" Adeu muttered to himself, trying to make sense of the encounter. "Why is one of the pillar gods interested in me? And a human?"

His mind was a storm of questions with no answers in sight. He knew one thing for certain, this was a problem.

If he wanted to escape from this place and travel to the Land of the Dead, he needed to stay unnoticed. The stakes were higher now, and the watchful eyes of a god were upon him.

Adeu's house, usually a sanctuary, now felt like a cage. The grand, opulent halls seemed to mock his plight, their beauty a stark contrast to the turmoil within him.

He made his way to his room, the weight of Pharnavaz's words pressing heavily on his mind.

He sat on his bed, looking out of the large window that overlooked the academy grounds.

The moonlight cast eerie shadows that danced across his room, but they couldn't chase away the darkness that had settled in his heart.

Adeu knew he had to be careful. Every step he took from now on had to be calculated. The path ahead was shrouded in uncertainty, but one thing was clear, he and Dune were bound by a connection even the gods found intriguing.

And as he sat there, staring into the night, Adeu resolved to uncover the truth, no matter the cost. The world of the dead awaited, and with it, the answers he desperately sought.

Echo stood alone in the empty room, his breath steady, his focus unyielding. Before him was a silver humanoid figure devoid of face and detail, its form smooth and featureless, but with a sword gripped tightly in its hand.

This was Nano, a training artifact. The doll was a relentless sparring partner, capable of adjusting its speed and skill level, and every time it was destroyed, it regenerated itself.

Echo's muscular physique glistened with sweat, his long black hair falling in loose strands across his intense, determined face.

He adjusted his grip on his sword, feeling the familiar weight and balance. With a swift dash, he launched himself at Nano.

The clash of metal echoed through the room as Echo's blade met Nano's in a flurry of sparks. Echo moved with fluid precision, his strikes swift and calculated.

He aimed a diagonal slash at Nano's torso, but the doll parried effortlessly and countered with a thrust toward Echo's midsection.

Echo sidestepped, the tip of Nano's blade narrowly missing him, and retaliated with a quick upward slice aimed at Nano's arm.

Nano blocked the attack, spinning to bring its sword down in a powerful overhead strike. Echo raised his blade horizontally, absorbing the impact, and used the momentum to push Nano's sword aside.

He stepped in close, delivering a rapid series of slashes to Nano's midsection. The artifact twisted away, but not before Echo's sword grazed its side, leaving a shallow cut.

Undeterred, Nano retaliated with a series of lightning-fast strikes. Echo matched its speed, their swords blurring as they clashed.

Echo's eyes never left his opponent, his mind calculating each move, anticipating Nano's next attack.

He ducked under a wide swing, spinning around to slice at Nano's legs. The doll leapt back, its movements eerily precise, and charged at Echo with renewed vigor.

Echo parried a thrust, then another, his arms straining under the relentless assault. He needed to find an opening. With a sudden, powerful strike, he knocked Nano's sword to the side and lunged forward, aiming for its core.

Nano twisted, avoiding the fatal blow, but Echo was relentless. He followed up with a rapid series of slashes and thrusts, driving Nano back.

His breathing heavy, Echo saw his chance. With a feint to the left, he drew Nano's guard away and then spun to the right, delivering a powerful horizontal slash that severed the doll's sword arm.

Nano's arm fell to the ground, but the doll kept coming, its remaining arm swinging wildly.

Echo ducked under a wild swing and leapt into the air, bringing his sword down in a powerful arc.

His blade cleaved through Nano's torso, slicing it in half. The doll crumpled to the ground, its body already beginning to regenerate.

But Echo was not done. He remembered the way Adeu had defeated him in their sparring match, using a final, decisive move.

With a final burst of energy, Echo attacked the regenerating figure with a flurry of rapid strikes, each one precise and devastating.

His sword moved like a whirlwind, hacking the doll into shreds. Pieces of Nano's form scattered across the floor, and for a moment, the room was silent.

Echo stood amidst the remains, his chest heaving, his sword still poised for battle. The remnants of Nano began to shimmer, the artifact preparing to regenerate once more.

Echo sheathed his sword, his face set in grim determination.

He chuckled softly to himself, realizing the significance of his victory. The doll could not sacrifice its hand for victory, but he and Adeu could. That was what it meant to be alive, to go beyond the limitations of mere machines.

The ability to sacrifice, to push beyond physical limits for the sake of victory, set them apart.

"Not bad," he muttered to himself, wiping the sweat from his brow. "But I can do better."

The training session had pushed him to his limits, but it also revealed his strengths and weaknesses.

Echo knew he had to be relentless, just like Nano. Only through constant training and unyielding determination could he hope to stand against the challenges that lay ahead.

Lisa sat at the dining table, the scent of beautifully cooked meat and fresh salad wafting through the air.

She ate slowly, her mind preoccupied with thoughts of her friends, Echo and Adeu. Worry gnawed at her; she wanted to help them but felt trapped by her obligations to her family and her current life.

Her mother, a woman with long black hair, and her father, a man with striking yellow hair, yellow eyes, and a thin beard, sat across from her.

The room was warm and filled with the soft clinking of cutlery against plates. Lisa broke the silence, her voice hesitant but curious.

"Mom, Dad, you were at the blessing ceremony, right? How did you feel about it?"

A heavy silence followed her question until her father Roden spoke, his tone filled with disdain.

"Pitiful humans deserved what happened to them. Lisa, you're still a child and don't understand history well.

Humans and gods once lived together, but because of our beauty and blood, greedy humans started to hunt us.

They killed our men and used our women for their desires. They used our bodies to make themselves young again, our golden blood to enhance their strength, and our women to strengthen their future generations.

Humans deserve worse, but our kind true gods still forgave them many things. Humans are greedy and evil creatures that need to be wiped out from the world.

They kill each other for fun and their desires. We are lucky that Zeus saved us from that hell.

Lisa listened intently, the weight of her father's words pressing down on her. Her mother nodded in agreement with everything her father said.

"Do you think the humans at the blessing ceremony were evil too?" Lisa asked softly.

Her father responded without hesitation. "Of course they were. Didn't you see how brutally they killed each other? They will do anything to survive."

"But wouldn't gods do the same if they were in the same situation?" Lisa added, her voice barely above a whisper.

Her father's tone shifted to one of anger. "Don't you dare compare us to those pitiful creatures. This conversation is over."

Lisa stood up silently, leaving the table and retreating to her room. She was deep in thought, her mind racing.

Were Adeu and Echo right? What was the truth, and what was a lie? She didn't know, but a burning desire to uncover the truth began to take root in her heart.

She sat on her bed, staring out the window into the night sky.

The stars seemed to whisper secrets she yearned to understand. Her father's words echoed in her mind, clashing with her own experiences and the compassion she had seen in Echo and Adeu.

The desire to know more, to find the truth beyond the surface, grew stronger.