The Herrscher of Origin.
The very same Herrscher that brought humanity a glimmer of hope.
Cyrene does not understand her story. Her memories regarding the Pink Elf were nil. There are only instincts remaining in her Remembrance-made body—instincts to hold wishes on her palm and let it streak across the sky.
Despite the lack of memories, she gained an understanding towards this stranger known as "Elysia".
Phainon saw everything happen on the opposite side.
'..!'
He could not speak. His body froze.
The Cyrene-turned-Herrscher overlapped with his memories of the first Cyrene. She, just like Elysia, desired to pen this story to a romantic ending. It was what led her to attract the Remembrance's gaze, ultimately allowing for his countless regressions.
For a moment, he fell into self-doubt.
'Is the answer I am pursuing… the right one?'
Shi Tian…
The Merlin he knew of is the biggest variable that came to Amphoreus. His strength is known to him. Being able to summon twelve, no, fifteen otherworlders bearing other Paths' power is a testament to it.
Should he…
'...follow through his plans?'
*****
"I once saw a world."
A clear voice pierced through the endless darkness. Kiana, who had just arrived with her divine mind, was instantly startled.
She looked around everywhere and saw nothing unusual.
"There was a cat in a box. Everyone said it was a savior. And so it kept on saving, kept on moving, delivering salvation as the world's Deliverer."
The familiar voice was unmistakable. It was Kiana's voice!
She had the impulse to shout—to ask who she truly is. Yet she did not.
"Before the cat knew it, the cardboard box was sealed shut. The people whom it saved viewed it as a tool of convenience, not caring about its plight.The ones who spurned on it let out a snicker. Everyone got what they wanted."
As if sensing Kiana, the voice halted for a moment. A piercing gaze shot towards her.
Kiana's heart dropped. The intimidating feeling it brought reminded her of higher-level cultivators.
"A future projection…"
She did not revel on the fact that her future projection was darningly strong—a tell-tale sign of her guaranteed success at the Dao Integration Realm. The depressing vibe killed it off.
"Nobody cared about the cat… not even the cat itself."
Kiana's brain worked surprisingly well at this moment. She understood the euphemism behind her future projection's words:
Tian is the cat!
"That world offered an inspiration to reach an answer…"
The future Tuna's voice did not possess her liveliness—her brilliance that made Kiana who she truly is. It carried a somber, tragic tone filled with regrets.
At the end of her words, however, it shifted to the usual Kiana, the girl filled with hope.
"...we must save the cat."
Click-!
…
…
…
"Fu…"
Kiana found herself standing in a golden brown wheat field. Everything she had experienced felt like a fever dream.
She knows it is not.
"...Savior."
Shi Tian's status on Earth is as such. He pulled off a miraculous run and dealt with the tragedies brought by the Cocoon of Finality, ending it once and for all. Even now, he is toiling to break the "Past's" veil, all to bring back people from the dead.
No matter how he denies it, the title of a Deliverer fits him very well.
"What did he do in the future..?"
Kiana feels Shi Tian must have done something very big in the future—something that caused the future Kiana's somber tone.
She swallowed her worries and explored the area. The golden-brown paddy made a perfect combination with the crimson-orange sky. It is something comparable to spiritual fields.
The sense of dissonance came from the thick rising black smoke.
Her star-like irises laid its gaze towards the Black Tide, and then to the white-haired man facing the tall robed man.
'He does look like the Ancestor…'
*****
Amphoreus is a simulation of the real universe. It possesses twelve of the most essential Paths, serving as anchors that hold everything down.
One of these anchors is the Titan of Death. It corresponds to the Primum Mobile of Equilibrium. Thanatos' hands that bring light and death, in turn, become the very mechanisms that regulate Amphoreus' River of Souls.
Today, the serene flower field was destroyed in a blink.
"Sister…"
"Don't touch it. Cut it off."
"Mhm…"
The field of purple flowers was drenched with pitch-black fluids. The transparent blue River of Souls situated nearby was stained in black. The dead souls wailed as they underwent a series of transformation, all incomprehensible to the two sisters.
Castorice was the first to notice the abnormality. She cut off her connection to the River of Souls.
She faced her sister sitting on the wheelchair.
"Find Teacher Tribbie. This ominous feeling is not an illusion. The River of Souls is being corrupted by something comparable to the Black Tide."
"..."
Polyxia stared at her silently. She pursed her lips as she let out her thoughts.
"What about you?"
"I will stay behind."
"No! Not again…"
Last time, Castorice made the sacrifice for Polyxia's ascension as the Death Titan. She died for her sister's sake, leaving Polyxia with endless regrets.
Now that they have reunited, she could not bear to see Castorice die for the second time!
"I will stay behind. You should go, sister."
"..."
It was Castorice's turn to be silenced. She had expected it to happen at some point.
Just as her love towards Polyxia was vast, the same is true otherwise.
The two are stuck in a deadlock when uninvited visitors arrive.
"The holders of this world's samsara."
The soft, gentle voice startled the two sisters. They turned around and saw two similar-looking girls.
Seele and Veliona traveled with their divine mind. Veliona's bright-red highlights and crimson-red pupils are extra features added through auxiliary cultivation techniques. Without them, she looked exactly the same as Seele. Their eye and hair color is identical to a tee, deserving of her identity as Seele's "other self".
Despite this, however, Shi Tian could perfectly identify which is which. They already used this on their dual cultivation sessions more than a dozen times. This made Veliona extremely happy—both physically and spiritually.
Seeing a pair of twins with identical looks, Veliona's first thought was:
'Did they fall for him?'
*****
A/N: If anyone's familiar with Wuthering Wave's recent story... well, here you go.