Chapter 156: Talk

"What-"

I wasn't able to finish before the scenery before my eyes changed abruptly. One second I was standing in front of the King's statue, the next I was amongst the stars. It was not an exaggeration as all around me was a sea of colorful stars and planets.

I was standing in the middle of space as if it was hard ground. My eyes darted about, studying my surroundings in an attempt to understand my situation better. Below me, countless stars shone brightly giving off a colorful glow. Above, was a myriad of celestial bodies, with all sorts of colors and shapes.

My eyes locked on a particular purple-colored planet, a gasp escaped my mouth as my breathing picked up. A dark red lizard eye suddenly opened in the middle of it, and stared at me, following which an unbearable aura descended almost crushing me into a paste.

Yet the odd thing was, after a couple of seconds, the eye slowly closed almost as if it never existed in the first place leaving me there gasping as I began to doubt my sanity. The planet now looked completely normal, if not for its unusual purple color.

Turning my attention elsewhere, I quickly focused on a different planet, this time a dark brown one. I didn't know why but for some reason I could feel that this one was not normal either, yet stare as I might, nothing really happened.

A frown made its way to my face as I studied the colorful planets above. Red, green, yellow, black, white, purple...blue..."Wait a minute, these colors?"

An absurd idea suddenly flashed through my mind as I studied the gigantic planets. "Red is fire, green is wind? Blue is water, Yellow is earth, Black is well Darkness? White is Holy? and purple is...cosmic?"

I took a deep breath trying to calm myself as I glanced at the massive planets circling above. Red, Green, Blue, and Yellow were relatively smaller in size compared to the Black, White, and Purple planets.

"Are these some sort of...elemental planes?" I mumbled in confusion.

The colors, or better yet, planets representing the pillars of existence were situated above the normal elements. The three planets formed a triangle of sorts. Black, faced White, while Purple seemed almost unstable.

"Something is not right, if these are the elements, where is the planet representing time?" I muttered unconsciously.

The normal elements seemed to keep each other in check, water faced fire, earth faced wind. Altogether, they formed a balance of sorts, the pillars of existence, on the other hand, it all seemed wrong.

The scenery that was before me, was hard to describe. The sheer scale of everything was far beyond me, I was insignificant before it all, not even comparable to an ant in size. Everything was simply too vast.

Just then, my mouth opened in shock and disbelief as the figure of a dragon swimming above the planets appeared. His scales were obsidian in color, I couldn't quite make out his face as yet all I could see was a bright golden glow in the place where his eyes should be.

The dragon easily dwarfed the planets in size, and the moment he appeared my scales began to tingle as my body was forced to look down. I merely caught a glance at his figure and almost exploded. I could feel every fiber of my being shaking, the feeling of helplessness returned, yet this time it was tenfold a hundred folds, no...It was simply indescribable.

My mind turned blank as I began to shake. 'I'm afraid? No, just what is this feeling?' My body felt like it was no longer mine. 'W-Was that the King?!' I gasped as I struggled to keep myself calm.

"Aether," An ancient voice suddenly called out, seemingly from every corner of space. It commanded an undeniable tone forcing me to further lower my body in respect. I was unable to move, unable to blink, I was helpless before this entity.

"The new cosmic pillar of existence," The voice spoke once again, this time in a thoughtful manner.

"I see you have gotten used to your new body," The voice continued. My eyes widened in disbelief as I heard what he said, 'New body? Wait! It can't be! He knows?!'

A chuckle escaped from the voice causing the entirety of space to vibrate with it as it continued, "I know a lot little Aether. Surely you did not think your reincarnation was nothing but a coincidence, Tim," A shudder ran through my spine as the voice called out to me, using a name I have long since forgotten.

"Y-You-" I couldn't muster the words as my body was forced to stay down, all I could see was the sea of shining stars glittering a distance away.

"Forgive me for I was rather busy, hence why I was unable to meet you on an earlier date. Still, I believe you did quite fine by yourself," Said the voice with another chuckle.

"W-Who are you?" I forced myself to ask. Although I couldn't see 'him' I could still sense his eyes on me, it was an unpleasant gaze that made me feel like I had no secrets I could keep from him.

"Hmph, you already know who I am, you prayed for me after all,"

"The King?"

"I have been called many names, but yes, I suppose that is what you would know me as,"

"What is this place? Why am I here? And how do you know about my reincarnation!?" I cried out the last part in a panic-filled voice.

"One question at a time little one. Technically, you are not here, I merely summoned your projection, had I chosen to bring you, you would have already been dead by now," Said the King in an almost indifferent tone.

"I don't understand..." I softly muttered, nothing made sense anymore.

"All in due time little one, I brought you here so I can have a good look at you since we did not have a good chance before, you continue doing what you were planning to do, head to the sea, that's a good start, though, I would recommend you begin with mastering your lightning magic, I'm sure it will come in handy," He said.

"Lightning? Wait! You didn't explain, how do you know about my reincarnation? Was it you? Did I come here because of you?" I cried out.

"Me? Hahaha!" His laugh reverberated throughout the space causing me to close my eyes and cover my ears as I winced in pain.

"No, little one, that was all because of you,"

"Me? But how? I-"

Not letting me finish, the King quickly interrupted me and spoke, "I'm afraid we don't have much time, It was good seeing you..." He said, and for a moment I could swear I sensed sadness in his voice.

Yet before I could say anything, the world suddenly blinked back to normal, and I once again found myself kneeling before the King's statue inside the temple as if nothing had ever happened.

"What in all hells..."