Just Who Are You? (6)

Ed and Nti Anem strolled unhindered from civilization. Nti Anem led the way till they were in the thick of trees, clouded by leaves and vines in a mountain range.

"We must find a place. How long do you estimate you are going to need?" he asked Ed and got no answer. He looked back at Ed's slightly dazed form with deep eyes. He has been distracted for quite some time now. He barely says a word. Nti Anem led the way till they found a stone cave inhabited by a spirit beast.

"Get out. We need this place," he said to the giant ape roared.

"Stupid human, how dare you command me?"

"I don't have time for this," Nti Anem flicked his wrist and the ape was thrown out of the cave very easily. It roared and charged back in only to be slammed back again.

"Move and I will split you into a thousand bits," Nti Anem said and the Ape froze. It could not feel any human energy coming off the boy and was slightly bothered by this.

"I don't need the smell of blood here," Ed finally spoke.

"You speak. Fine, I will kill it far from here," he answered.

"Have you asked for my opinion first?" the ape was angered beyond measure, but it did not dare move. It prided itself on having a remarkably sensitive nose. The human that barely spoke smelt dangerous. Some smell coming from his being scared it silly. When he glanced at it, it felt life escape in a hurry.

"Do you ask the chicken its opinion before you stuff it in a pot?" Nti Anem asked and the ape gritted it's teeth and left. It was going to find friends and return to deal with these humans.

Nti Anem made a sweeping motion with his hands and all the contents of the cave were swept away, allowing Ed to sit with legs crossed and lean on the cave wall behind him.

"He will be back, probably with friends to fight for him. Just when I thought I would have nothing to do," Nti Anem looked at the ape's escaping back in the distance and shook his head. He looked back at Ed and sighed at his dazed look.

"Do you remember who I am?" he asked and Ed glanced at him with indifferent eyes. To this, Nti Anem matched with a serious stare.

"You do not remember who you are?" Ed asked.

"Do you?" he asked Ed.

"Nti Anem," Ed sighed with eyes closed.

"Helix Apteil," he answered and Ed's eyes shot open. To this, Nti Anem walked over and sat opposite him and leaned on the cave wall.

"When you take on a new name it happens. When you walk with someone under a new name for some time, it is normal to forget who they really are. You are sitting before someone who walked with the creator herself. The only other that can stand to make such claim is Gryith," he said and flicked his finger letting a blue fire in their middle lighting up the entire cave.

"You can see the colour of your flames?" Ed asked.

"Everyone should. My powers were given by Slah. My magic has always carried a blue hue. Even the light realm cannot block that," he said.

"You know many things. Things people should not know," Ed said.

"Yes," he answered.

"Then tell me. Who is the Oracle of Deranox?" he asked and Nti Anem gave him a deep look.

"Why? Are you trying to figure out why she is trying to kill you?" he asked.

"The person in the tomb, she killed him. In the memory I saw, she said whichever form he comes, she will always be there to kill him," Ed said and Nti Anem raised a brow.

"You think it wise pondering upon this?"

"I want to know if I will have to kill her someday,"

"I do not know who she is," he said, meeting Ed's scornful eyes.

"Yet you claim to know many things,"

"But I know what she is," Nti Anem said and Ed paused.

"A principality is the best description. A god is a belittling title so I will not use it. It does not truly tell the story of who they are. I cannot recognize her because that is probably not her true form or the form I had met her in. But the essence of what they are is hard to hide if you have the eyes," Nti Anem said.

"Why a principality and not god?" Ed asked.

"Have you ever heard the phrase, 'the skies fall when gods die'?" he asked and Ed nodded.

"Gods can die is an odd concept. But gods are born sounds better. You see, it is not that they die or are born that is important, it is that they are successor and predecessor one and the same," he answered.

"Reincarnation?" Ed asked.

"That is not a full picture so the term is wrong. After all, a god can still be alive at the time his replacement is being trained,"

"Then how can they be one and the same?" Ed asked and Nti Anem paused as though trying to find the right words.

"Let's use your master for example. Let's say he is a god in training, say the god of Greed. But the god of greed still lives. When the god of greed dies and he takes over, he becomes greed, sometimes a different version of greed. But by becoming greed, he is not as he was. He becomes the time of greed itself; the faces of greed. Even the greed that had left and he in the past become one and the same. At the same time, his experiences there are lost to time; one can argue he probably never even existed. Not have existed means he never trained to replace the last god and the last god never died. He probably was always the god of greed and the exact moment it was meant to be; probably from his birth, he had lost his humanity. When it comes to ideals, time does not exist, nor space. They are as they are. Calling them gods is to personify them; the ideal that gained consciousness. A principality that just exists is the better term," Nti Anem explained and glanced at Ed's thinking form before chuckling.

"What? Still thinking to kill her?" he asked Ed.

"Why kill the person in the tomb over and over again? Even though soul cannot die, it can be trapped if it wants to. There is no need to kill a person's form over and over again," Ed said.

"Unless it is a form of punishment or that was not a person to begin with," Nti Anem answered and Ed looked up immediately.

"Can gods- No, principalities die in the mist?" Ed asked and Nti Anem paused and stared at him deeply.

"You think yourself a god?" he asked and Ed was slightly startled. To this, Nti Anem laughed.

"That probably did not cross your mind. You are thinking of killing her?" he changed his question.

"You think it is impossible?" Ed asked.

"Well, she tried this hard to kill you, you might as well entertain the possibility," he answered.

"Will it work?" Ed asked.

"What brought this thought on?" he asked, slightly puzzled.

"Realizing she must have wanted me to die in here, Seeing As she killed the scholar, telling him that he would never escape death by her hands no matter what form he comes, seeing that even he could not escape makes me wonder what chances I have," Ed said.

"Have you ever considered that you are the scholar?" Nti Anem asked and Ed paused.

"It should have at least crossed your mind. That is why you have been out of it since you left the tomb. The scholar and yourself have the same energy. I have never seen such before, nor do I understand it. She pursues the scholar across many worlds killing all his forms. She tricked you to willingly enter the mist where you are to die," Nti Anem deduced.

"There is no way to know," Ed said shaking his head. It was as though he could not accept that he is hunted by heavenly mandate. Why? It could not possibly be him. He has too much on his plate. All he had ever concentrated on is leaving the mist and going back to complete his quest and pay his debt to her. The thought that he is hunted across worlds did not sit well with him.

"When I first encountered you and wanted to possess you, if not for that…sister you followed around, I would have succeeded. But it would not have ended well for me, I know that now. But do you know why it was you? Your body is like a walking armour. I could not believe such a body existed in this world. Now, I know you, it seemed to be crafted to house you and whatever is running through your being. There is a great chance that you and the scholar are ones and the same," Nti Anem said.

"Doesn't that mean I will die one way or another?" Ed asked.

"That scholar, how strong was he?" Nti Anem asked.

"He never fought back in the memory," Ed said, "Why?"

"I deduce that if you are that scholar, you are getting harder to kill," he said.

"How so?"

"If she has killed many versions of you before, it must be easier for heaven to find you and her in turn, kill you. She should already be an expert in it. Since you return every time, then it should not be a problem to just always kill you, unless something changes when you are reborn. Either you get stronger every time, giving them a headache, or you get harder to kill," Nti Anem said.

"Doesn't that mean one thing? Stronger would mean harder to kill,"

"No. Harder to kill just mean harder to kill. Either condition is not right, your form is under certain constraints or many other things; anything can go wrong when trying to kill someone," Nti Anem said and Ed sat back with a sigh.

"Think about it this way; if you think of using the mist to kill her just as she had done with you, to go this far, to return every time without being trapped in the nether halls; you would have to be a god," Nti Anem said with deep eyes trained on Ed's form. To this, Ed opened his eyes and returned his stare. Nti Anem chuckled after a while.

"Do not worry. I have birthed gods before. Even before they become gods, I can tell who they are. If you were a god I would know," Nti Anem said.