This Human And His Friend For Two Lifetimes
Hailey lands near a cave and put Ezekiel down on his feet carefully. Her pair of wings glows before it conceals itself. Now that her wings are nowhere to be seen, she looks human again.
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The two of them entered the dark cave. One exhausted, and one isn't in a fine state of mind.
"She won't find us here easily. Let's stay here until I recover enough spiritual energy to open a portal to the mortal world." She said as she crouches down on the ground.
There are two portals in the empire heading towards any realm. However, each of these portals are highly guarded. Even the empress herself can't use it in personal intentions. This pushed her to forcefully open a portal for herself to come to the mortal realm, freeze time, and get Ezekiel 'back' to the shapeshifter's realm. This resulted her to almost freeze herself to death.
The seven portals, including the two located in Hilaga Empire, are monitored by the Great Lord of the shapeshifter's realm. This Great Lord rules and maintains harmony between the four empires of the said realm.
Hailey can't afford to fight her way in and out since she used too much energy. And so, she has no other option but to make one. However, creating one will consume too much of her power.
This is the reason why she played dirty against the empress. She's not in her best state after making a portal bound in this realm. She haven't even fully recovered from the duel they had with her majesty back in the mortal world.
Right after Ezekiel and Empress Ophelia entered the portal, Hailey didn't waste any second and opened one for herself. Even after opening her own passage the moment the empress' portal closed, it still took her three days. The time between the two realms are indeed very different.
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"Can you tell me now?" Ezekiel's voice echoed in the cave's insides.
Hailey lifts her head only to be greeted by Ezekiel's cold gaze. This made her eyes widen. A piercing pain in her chest suddenly appeared. These pair of indifferent, or rather frustrated eyes looking straight at her are the same as the cold gaze he had in the past.
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"Zeke... I-I'm sorry. I---" She utters these words.
She didn't even know what to say or the reason why is she apologizing to him. Is it because she thinks she probably made him upset? Or is it because of what she did in the past?
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"Sorry for what?" He asks, still giving the other a cold treatment.
Is she apologizing for targeting him earlier? Or is she apologizing for keeping a secret from him? Just what exactly is that 'sorry' for?
Ezekiel doesn't want to treat Hailey like this. He sees her as his closest friend for eighteen long years after all. However, he can't stop himself from keeping his guards up to her. He saw how she suddenly aimed her pole to him back in the hall. He witnessed with his own two eyes how the empress got hurt just for him to get away from the certain danger.
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"Zeke, listen to me please. You're not safe here. You have to come back to the mortal world. If you stay here, how about your family? Your mother will be sad." She tried to convince him that he must not stay long in this place. She strongly believes that it's for the best if he'll just go back to the mortal realm and live peacefully again just like what he used to.
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"Hailey, Ophelia said a year here isn't even equivalent to half an hour in the mortal world. These would be all over before my mother would even realize that I'm gone." He reasoned out.
Ezekiel won't deny the fact that he wants to stay longer in the empress' place. He wants to understand the situation he's currently in. Especially that he's very much involved in the quarrel in between her majesty and Hailey.
Why is that the empress helps him to recover his lost memories and Hailey on the other hand, seems she doesn't want him to know anything? Does he really have to disregard everything and live normally as a human again?
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"Zeke, you don't understand." Hailey exclaimed. "Yes, it's true that the time flows differently here. But there's one thing you don't know!"
Something she wish he wouldn't know but his perspective might change if this thing is revealed to him.
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"What is it?" He asked.
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"Maiden Shi Miao... you know Maiden Shi Miao, right?" She sees Shi Miao earlier at the hall.
Shi Miao is actually her majesty's loyal servant even before the empress got coronated as the ruler of the Hilaga Empire. She's already serving her for two thousand years now.
Since he's been with the empress all these time, she thought he might know Shi Miao by now.
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Ezekiel knitted his eyebrows. Why is Shi Miao being mentioned here?
"What about her?"
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"She's a human too!" Hailey exclaimed.
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Ezekiel let out a sigh. He already knows it. Does she expect that the people here are keeping secrets just like she did to him? Still he asked, "I know, and?"
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Hailey's facial expression becomes solemn. In a low voice she asks the other, "Do you know why she's not getting older even after all these years?"
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Ezekiel, "Because she became immortal after eating a black food here?"
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Hailey shakes her head. "She's not getting older because she's just a soul with her consciousness still intact! And I don't think she's aware of that."
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"What do you mean?" Now, this is where the confusion starts again for Ezekiel. Does she mean it literally? Like... like Shi Miao is a ghost or something? With this thought in mind, he got goosebumps.
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Hailey explains, "When mortals enter this realm, they can't bring their physical bodies with them. Only the soul enters through the portal. That black food you are talking about is preventing a soul from getting back to its body."
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"Does that mean..." He hesitated to say his thoughts. Does it even makes sense?
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Hailey nods. "You're temporarily dead in the mortal world. You, me... we're just an empty container now in our realm."
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Ezekiel can't believe it. So they are just souls now that has still the consciousness intact? If he won't be able to go back in time, will he really die in the mortal world?
He's clearly not prepared for this. He isn't willing to leave his life there for good and stay here forever! Does the empress intentionally did not tell him this? Or is Hailey even telling the truth this time?
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"So come home with me, okay?" Hailey said in a soothing voice.
Her eyes are pleading to him to go back with her to where he belongs.
Ezekiel thinks about it for a while. Maybe it's for the best to overlook this and suppress his curiosity. If these conflicts all happened during his previous life, maybe it's just right not to excavate the buried and forgotten bygones.
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He parted his lips and uttered the words, "Then Hailey, tell me..."
He swallows, afraid of what answer he might get from him. His voice is somehow shaking as he ask the other. "Are you really the Hailey I knew when we're still kids?"
He's secretly hoping that the cheerful little girl during his childhood is the same as this aloof and cold woman in front of him. He's quietly wishing that the good memories he had in his younger years are all real. She's not pretending all this time, right?
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"..."
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A long silence comes in between. She pursed her lips, avoided his gaze and closed her eyes. In an audible whisper, she responded, "Yes."
It's all fun and games during their childhood years. The laughter they shared, as well as the moments of sadness. To Hailey those are the most sincere feelings she had. She clearly remembers how cheerful she was. She really enjoyed the time she had with Ezekiel.
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And then everything changed when she reached fourteen years old. The memories she had in her past life as Princess Minerva of Hilaga Empire starts to appear in her head. She remembered how she met Ethan. She recalled how the thirteen royal siblings competed for the throne that eventually resulted to bloodbath. She recollects all the forgotten memories including the conflicts they had. Conflicts that still haunt them until the next life.
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Princess Minerva, together with her eleven siblings all died a tragic death just because of a mere chair on the altar in the Hall of Glory and Honor. With this very reason, she holds a grudge against the remaining highness of the thirteen siblings. She wishes to have her revenge against her youngest sister, the thirteenth highness, Princess Ophelia.
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She refused to drink the tea of forgetfulness in the underworld. She didn't want to forget it all. She wants to carry out the grudge she had when she's still alive. She even got to the point where she faked her intake of the said tea.
Just a gulp of this tea will make one forget his past life as well as the time that one had in the underworld. Basically, a person will have an empty mind the time the reincarnation takes place. When Princess Minerva faked the act, some tea remained on her lips. That resulted her to take some time to remember things from her previous life.
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The time she recollected the past events is also the time Hailey starts to change. She's no longer as cheerful as before. She rarely smiles, not to mention, to laugh. Everyone around her believed that this change she's showing is part of puberty. What the didn't know is that deep grudge is driving her to go act cold and indifferent to others. She starts to cultivate her spiritual powers again and managed to summon her holy weapon. Although she's reborn as a human being, she possess the powers she used to have in the previous lifetime.
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"Hailey!"
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But then there's this smiling face of Ezekiel. She realized, the two of them must be destined to be together. For them to be good friends for the second time, she thought, maybe they're soulmates. Ezekiel doesn't seem to remember anything just like she does. Perhaps he wishes to forget it all? If he really did, isn't it a good thing? They can start all over again. He won't remember the bad things she did to him for the sake of her selfishness. She wouldn't deny that she really wronged him in the past life but promised herself to make up to him this time.
By then she realized, maybe she should let her grudge go. It's all in the past anyway. What's happened cannot be undone. Let bygones be bygones.
Everything goes smooth in her favor but this didn't last too long. Things are going upside down when the current empress of the Hilaga Empire showed herself and took Ezekiel to the Realm of the Shapeshifters.
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"Yes, I'm that Hailey you've known since we're young."
Although she had changed a lot, she's still that little girl who enjoyed their time together.
"Really, it was me. Believe me, it was me."