??? POV I (Alma's storyline)
I don't know when it happened, but I have suddenly lost my body.
I have faint memories of the past, but they're blurry and strange. I cannot move my body properly; it seems as if it were static.
Have I lost the ability to move independently? It appears to be the case.
Or maybe… Perhaps if I put the will into the thought of moving, something could happen.
Somehow, as I will something, my vision opens up, and so does the sound of everything around me, without even having eyes to see nor ears to hear, I was able to have these senses.
I can see once more. But who am I? When did I acquire the ability to think? I feel like I had memories of a time "before" this, but they're blurred out by darkness.
I was sure someone else back then. I had a body, with two legs and two arms, a head, eyes, ears, and more… I remember! Did I use to be… an Elf? A blonde man with long hair and sharp emerald eyes suddenly emerges in my memories.
He speaks with a condescending tone of voice as if looking down at me. In these memories, I find myself in the ground, defeated.
This man has big butterfly wings behind his back, his appearance by itself was completely divine, he was an enormously strong and glorious god. I couldn't describe it otherwise.
But why? Why was he looking at me like this?
Who is he?"
"You've served me well, Elraunne. But now you've become a burden…" he said.
"Why? Ungh… Oberon! Why…?!" asked the voice coming from what seemed to be "me".
Who is Oberon? This man… I…
Eh? I remember! He was… the Venerable. The man that reached Rank 10, the savior of all the world, the one that fought against the threats, the Chaos Gates, and defeated the monstrous Chaotic Beasts that surged from the Chaos formed by the miasma of the world, I remember!
It was a chaotic era… an era where many died, an era where countries were constantly falling, war ran asunder, and immortals fought for territory and resources.
I… Immortal? Did I use to be an Immortal?
This man… this glorious man spoke with a voice that seemed sharp and terrible, it felt as if it was piercing through my soul, he was being so cold with me, for some reason, I had grown attached to him, like a good friend, my ally, my companion…
But he was now… killing me?
I looked into my memories, finding out my hands were bleeding, there was a large spear made of wood piercing my chest, as the wood roots spread inside of my body and continuously absorbed my blood and life.
It was an excruciatingly agonizing death, the sole thought about such painful memories fills me with regret! Yet… who was I? I don't remember who I was, nor my family, nor my friends, nor my identity! I only know I used to be someone that Oberon considered an ally until he betrayed my loyalty and slain me… for some reason.
I delved into my memories some more, but I could only find faint words of his as the flames around the house where I was beginning to consume my half-dead body.
"You would never understand… What's to be caged in this world…"
"No matter what… I will break through…"
"And I won't let anyone stop me…"
"If I have to kill you all…"
"I will…"
So harsh… so cold… Was… this how Oberon truly was?!
Why… my friend, why?!
I felt heartbroken out of the sudden, yet… I had no longer a heart.
Another fewer faint memories emerge in my mind right after.
What I saw after dying, all-encompassing darkness, and then, the faint voice of someone.
The voice of the world.
"My lost child… You've come back to me?" it asked.
At that time, I felt lost, and I frantically asked things I didn't know about, while the voice of this motherly entity only answered some.
"W-Who are you?!"
"I am the will of the world, Yggdrasil's Will."
"W-What? Shouldn't… I go to Helheim?"
"Your soul was destroyed by your friend, the traitor Oberon."
"W-What?! Then how am I here?"
"You're a recollection of the data I accumulated within my core, everything that happens in my world is accumulated and stored here… You've been revived from such data."
"I… I truly died… But why me? What… do you want from me?"
"I require your assistance, you're the one that was the closest to this monster. I want you to slay him."
"S-Slay him? Oberon… how long has it been since I died?" I asked.
"Millions of years, and even after I managed to kill him by reducing his lifespan, this monster has crawled out of his graveyard and come to bite my back once more. He seems relentless, and always comes back, in every era… he's always behind everything!"
"O-Oberon…? But… didn't he want to protect our world? Why would he…."
"Even I don't know the reasons behind this. But you're special, and you will lead to greatness…" she said.
"Greatness you say?"
"Take this, my seed, use it as your vessel, you're the most compatible with it."
"The seed… of Yggdrasil?"
"Indeed. Now go, the seed will be planted in the corpse of an ancient being, use this ancient being to increase your strength… You're not my last hope, but you're one of them…"
And like this, I was sent here.
And I appeared here, as…
I am a grass.
I looked at my own body, indeed, I was nothing else than a three-centimeter-long green grass growing in the rich soil before me.
Have I been reincarnated as a grass? From all things…
But didn't she say the corpse of an ancient being? I don't see anything- Eh?!
I suddenly realized that rich energy was constantly rushing into my body, feeling nourished as I expanded my roots below, there wasn't just dirt, but a very hard bone.
The strength of something truly ancient was flowing towards me, something draconic.
